I am certain that the storm related fire to one of our local churches is old news. But the devastation and heartbreak of losing a church home and its benefits to the community linger on. What is God trying to tell us? Do we need to change our ways, admitting that He is in charge? Or is it to challenge those of us who still have our churches to reach out with compassion and a helping hand?
You might say, “Oh, it was just a building!” But really it is part of the heart of Edgerton and who we are. As personal loss, I enjoyed each morning looking out my back door as I unlocked it for the day’s activities and viewing the beauty of the church surrounded with majestic trees, particularly with the rising of the morning sun shining on the bell tower, sending forth its beauty seeming to say to me “God is in his heaven, all is right with the world.” May He bring peace to the community and the hearts that are hurting the most.
I made a quick trip to Bryan Saturday morning to buy a set of ink cartridges for my printer. I decided that while I am here, I guess I will take advantage of the special sales in the grocery stores. I had written a few things down, but my roving eye sometimes wanders to things that I enjoy rather than need. I have a particular craving for nectarines ever since our trip to Alaska in 1990, when one of our traveling companions had them with her most of the time. I had enjoyed them once this year, but the ones that caught my eye were the biggest that I had ever seen and seemed to say, “Please take me home with you.” I yielded to the temptation and quickly gabbed a small bag of them that were already assembled and put them in my cart. When I got home I scanned my receipt, thinking that they had not charged me for one item. What hit me between the eyes was the information that I had paid over $9.00 for that little bag of nectarines! That certainly wiped out the savings of the sales items that I planned to buy. (They were $2.49 per pound and I had over three and one half pounds!) I did share two with my daughter and son in-law, telling then to take small bites, chew slowly and savor every bit of each golden morsel. They really were very nice and just as tasty, but my oh my, nine dollars!!
While looking for something different, this recipe caught my attention. Should work for a light Sunday evening supper as well as a snack.
SAUSAGE CHEESE SNACKS
1 pound bulk sausage, Italian or otherwise
½ cup chopped onion
1 can (15 oz.) pizza sauce
½ pound sliced fresh mushrooms
1 loaf (16 oz.) French bread, cut into 22 slices
1 pkg. (8 oz.) sliced mozzarella cheese, halved
Cook sausage and onion over medium heat until meat is no longer pink. Stir in pizza sauce and mushrooms. Place bread slices on a 10 x 15 baking sheet. Spoon 2 heaping tablespoons of sausage mixture on each slice. Top with a half slice of cheese.
Bake at 350 degrees for 20 to 25 minutes.
Don’t you think that we need a quick and tasty summertime dessert? This will be quite easy to make and should be family pleasing. Make it fancy by using crystal dishes or increase the ingredients and make it in a large trifle bowl for a larger group.
DOUGHNUT PARFAITS
2 cups cold milk
1 package (3.4 oz.) instant vanilla pudding mix
16 powdered sugar doughnut holes, halved
2 medium firm bananas cut into ¼ inch slices
2 cups whipped topping
Chopped nuts and maraschino cherries.
In a bowl whisk the milk and pudding mix. Let stand until soft set. Place 4 doughnut hole halves in each of the four parfait glasses. Top with half of the pudding, bananas and whipped topping. Repeat layers. Garnish with nuts and cherries. Enjoy.
Whenever I bake a batch of cookies I nearly always have some left over that is not enough to fill a cookie sheet. I usually do not want to waste it so I bake whatever is left on a large baking sheet.
I just notice a hint that sounds worth trying. Just freeze whatever is left over and when you are cooking a casserole or other entrees in the oven, just pop your left over cookie dough in the oven and have warm cookies for dessert.
Tuesday, July 31, 2012
Wednesday, July 18, 2012
7/19/12
Global warming? Do you agree or disagree? Record breaking temperatures. History making total days in succession of temperatures over 100 degrees. No snow last winter. Not more than three drops of rain in the last forever. Something is going on in my globe and it is more than warm it is downright hot!! How high does the percentage of chances of showers have to be for us to get one? I have ordered a 24 hour gentle rain, no harsh winds nor what you could call a storm. The only trouble with that order is that I am not sure of my ranking with the Man In Charge. It may be back ordered.
I wonder if even of one of God’s gracious showers will be powerful enough to revive the desolate looking lawns and my pathetic garden. I was out of the county this past week and the lawns there look equally as desolate. So I guess my part of the globe is not being treated any worse than the neighboring one. Hopefully prayer, patience and perseverance will prevail and things will get back to normal. I have decided to pad my time sheet for my pension and social security payments to help cover the extra city billing for water usage and electricity charges for the constant running of my air conditioner. Guess I will quit complaining and be thankful that I have both electricity and an air conditioner. Thousands of people have been without both for extended periods of time.
I did not do anything exciting this past week, but I did have to part with an 18 year friendship. I finally decided I would have to admit that my faithful refrigerator was not functioning properly. I put in an emergency plea to my faithful refrigeration engineer only to receive a call back that he is on a two week vacation. He has been a faithful and honest adviser to me in the past so I took my grief elsewhere only to be told that if my appliance were 18 years old with no service charges, I had no complaints. So I put in a distress call to my son who usually bears the burden of my technical problems and he asked me a few questions and details. In a short while he called back and told me that a new one was on its way! His brother was helping to deliver it to my home. The only problem was he would also have to pick up a check to cover the cost. Since it was on sale and delivery charges were cancelled it was a good deal and by mid afternoon I had a new one installed and the old one was on its way back to his home town where if he can get it running it will be used in his shop. If not he will unplug it and use it for tool storage. Sounds as if his upbringing has taken root in his life as we always made do with what we had and did not complain about what we could not have. I really hope it does run for a year or two for him. I was using the freezer compartment for just refrigeration. So it had lost its usefulness to me. Now I can buy a gallon of milk. Powdered just does not do it for me. As with my stove when I replaced it, my new one was not of the same quality as the one I replaced. But it will do the job for just me and if it lasts 18 years, I won’t know about it.
Hope you liked the recipes that I sent you last week. I found a few very simple ones that sound like things that my mother made when I was a kid. If you are not interested in them, do not tell me about it. Now I will have to remember to return the book to my kind friend.
IRISH SODA BREAD
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
Enough buttermilk or sour milk to make a soft dough. Sift the flour, soda and salt together. Add the butter milk or sour milk. Roll the dough in a circle and cut into triangles. Bake on a hot griddle, browning well on both sides. Serve warm with butter and honey.
SODA CRACKER COOKIES
35 soda crackers
1 cup butter
1 cup semisweet chocolate bits
¾ cup chopped walnuts
I cup brown sugar
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line a 10 x 15 inch baking pan with foil and grease. Line pan with crackers. Melt the butter and add the brown sugar. Cook and stir until sugar dissolves. Pour over the crackers. Bake from 3 to 5 minutes, or until mixture starts to bubble. Spread the chocolate chips over the hot crackers. Let stand for a minute. Spread the chocolate evenly and sprinkle with nuts. Let cool and cut into bars.
Stay cool and I need some help on prayers for rain. A lot of the crops look as if it might be too late for much help, but a good rain can do wonders over a meager watering with a garden hose.
I wonder if even of one of God’s gracious showers will be powerful enough to revive the desolate looking lawns and my pathetic garden. I was out of the county this past week and the lawns there look equally as desolate. So I guess my part of the globe is not being treated any worse than the neighboring one. Hopefully prayer, patience and perseverance will prevail and things will get back to normal. I have decided to pad my time sheet for my pension and social security payments to help cover the extra city billing for water usage and electricity charges for the constant running of my air conditioner. Guess I will quit complaining and be thankful that I have both electricity and an air conditioner. Thousands of people have been without both for extended periods of time.
I did not do anything exciting this past week, but I did have to part with an 18 year friendship. I finally decided I would have to admit that my faithful refrigerator was not functioning properly. I put in an emergency plea to my faithful refrigeration engineer only to receive a call back that he is on a two week vacation. He has been a faithful and honest adviser to me in the past so I took my grief elsewhere only to be told that if my appliance were 18 years old with no service charges, I had no complaints. So I put in a distress call to my son who usually bears the burden of my technical problems and he asked me a few questions and details. In a short while he called back and told me that a new one was on its way! His brother was helping to deliver it to my home. The only problem was he would also have to pick up a check to cover the cost. Since it was on sale and delivery charges were cancelled it was a good deal and by mid afternoon I had a new one installed and the old one was on its way back to his home town where if he can get it running it will be used in his shop. If not he will unplug it and use it for tool storage. Sounds as if his upbringing has taken root in his life as we always made do with what we had and did not complain about what we could not have. I really hope it does run for a year or two for him. I was using the freezer compartment for just refrigeration. So it had lost its usefulness to me. Now I can buy a gallon of milk. Powdered just does not do it for me. As with my stove when I replaced it, my new one was not of the same quality as the one I replaced. But it will do the job for just me and if it lasts 18 years, I won’t know about it.
Hope you liked the recipes that I sent you last week. I found a few very simple ones that sound like things that my mother made when I was a kid. If you are not interested in them, do not tell me about it. Now I will have to remember to return the book to my kind friend.
IRISH SODA BREAD
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
Enough buttermilk or sour milk to make a soft dough. Sift the flour, soda and salt together. Add the butter milk or sour milk. Roll the dough in a circle and cut into triangles. Bake on a hot griddle, browning well on both sides. Serve warm with butter and honey.
SODA CRACKER COOKIES
35 soda crackers
1 cup butter
1 cup semisweet chocolate bits
¾ cup chopped walnuts
I cup brown sugar
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line a 10 x 15 inch baking pan with foil and grease. Line pan with crackers. Melt the butter and add the brown sugar. Cook and stir until sugar dissolves. Pour over the crackers. Bake from 3 to 5 minutes, or until mixture starts to bubble. Spread the chocolate chips over the hot crackers. Let stand for a minute. Spread the chocolate evenly and sprinkle with nuts. Let cool and cut into bars.
Stay cool and I need some help on prayers for rain. A lot of the crops look as if it might be too late for much help, but a good rain can do wonders over a meager watering with a garden hose.
7/12/12
Temperature today in the mid 80’s. Almost seems like a cold spell !! These past few days makes me appreciate my air conditioned home almost as much as my automatic washer, dryer and automatic furnace. Aren’t we spoiled? Yet there was something special about those days when we were closer to God and nature than we are now. Maybe the storms are trying to tell us something.
Hope you missed us enough to appreciate our home town paper and all of its benefits. During the break in the publishing schedule I had a magic weekend. It was the scheduled weekend family camping that we have been enjoying for 23 years. As time changes all things, this was a much smaller attendance than we usually have as grandkids have married, moved away and have heavy schedules of their own. But we enjoyed all that could make it. The Friday storms had reduced the temperature greatly for good sleeping on Friday night, but the rest of the weekend was warmer than it would have had to be for greater comfort. On Saturday morning, the log cabin was unoccupied, so we hurriedly asked for occupancy for the rest of the weekend, since it was air conditioned.
All but one of my kids and their spouses attended. My youngest son and some of his family were planning to attend and had everything packed to spend the weekend with us when the storm hit their home in Decatur, damaging a pillar on the front of the house, broken windows and roof damage. We were grateful that there were no physical injuries.
We changed our format this year because of the smaller attendance and had three of our meals catered. It was a great suggestion from a daughter-in-law and was favorably received by everyone with all food being well prepared and served. Another successful annual gathering of our family.
Recently an older, not elderly, gentleman called me and wanted to know if I were interested in a book he had that had a lot of unusual recipes. I responded affirmatively and he delivered it to my home with the suggestion that he would like to have it returned. With the combination of a couple of illnesses in the family, the camping weekend and the hot weather, not to mention that my nosy friend was here and put the book out of my sight, it got lost in the shuffle. This morning after some relief from the heat and me spending several days just existing and not doing my daily routine, I decided that I had better put a few things back in order so my kids would not decide that living alone was to much for their aging mother. As I removed a “stack” of papers, etc. from the top of the printer in my bedroom, there was my forgotten book.
I had two magic moments today. One was a call from a daughter-in-law who was spending the day alone and wanted me to go to lunch with her. I accepted before she had uttered the complete invitation. It was a very special occasion for just the two of us to be out on the town. I came home and was scanning my interesting book and another daughter-in-law stopped in for a visit. The book is Farm Show and has some interesting jokes, anecdotes and unusual recipes. I will give you a couple but you can be glad that I skipped over the ones for Deep Fried Rattlesnake, Castor Oil Cookies and Baked Skunk! There are a few I would like to try before sending them on and it has been interesting reading. I am only half through the magazine.
First I will give you the recipe for a cake that is simple to do and I think you will like it. I didn’t count the calories but it sounds super delicious!
HOLY COW CAKE
I chocolate cake mix
1 can Eagle Brand sweetened condensed milk
1 carton caramel apple dip
1 carton (8 oz.) Cool Whip
1 Nestle’s Crunch bar
Bake cake according to box directions. When done poke holes all over the top. Pour milk over the top and allow to soak in while the cake is warm. Spread caramel over the top and let cool. Layer whipped topping on top with shaved candy bar.
POOR MAN’S DESSERT
12 crackers
3 tablespoons thick jam
2 egg whites, beaten stiff
4 tablespoons sugar
Put some jam on each cracker. Add sugar gradually to the beaten egg whites to make meringue. Cover each cracker with meringue. Place on cookie sheet. Bake in slow oven for 4 minutes, or until browned on top.
Instead of using a milk substitute, try using fruit juice such as pear, apple, peach. Consider also the use of cottage cheese, yogurt, or egg white. Fruit juices make an excellent substitute for the celiac who is both gluten and lactose intolerant.
Hope you missed us enough to appreciate our home town paper and all of its benefits. During the break in the publishing schedule I had a magic weekend. It was the scheduled weekend family camping that we have been enjoying for 23 years. As time changes all things, this was a much smaller attendance than we usually have as grandkids have married, moved away and have heavy schedules of their own. But we enjoyed all that could make it. The Friday storms had reduced the temperature greatly for good sleeping on Friday night, but the rest of the weekend was warmer than it would have had to be for greater comfort. On Saturday morning, the log cabin was unoccupied, so we hurriedly asked for occupancy for the rest of the weekend, since it was air conditioned.
All but one of my kids and their spouses attended. My youngest son and some of his family were planning to attend and had everything packed to spend the weekend with us when the storm hit their home in Decatur, damaging a pillar on the front of the house, broken windows and roof damage. We were grateful that there were no physical injuries.
We changed our format this year because of the smaller attendance and had three of our meals catered. It was a great suggestion from a daughter-in-law and was favorably received by everyone with all food being well prepared and served. Another successful annual gathering of our family.
Recently an older, not elderly, gentleman called me and wanted to know if I were interested in a book he had that had a lot of unusual recipes. I responded affirmatively and he delivered it to my home with the suggestion that he would like to have it returned. With the combination of a couple of illnesses in the family, the camping weekend and the hot weather, not to mention that my nosy friend was here and put the book out of my sight, it got lost in the shuffle. This morning after some relief from the heat and me spending several days just existing and not doing my daily routine, I decided that I had better put a few things back in order so my kids would not decide that living alone was to much for their aging mother. As I removed a “stack” of papers, etc. from the top of the printer in my bedroom, there was my forgotten book.
I had two magic moments today. One was a call from a daughter-in-law who was spending the day alone and wanted me to go to lunch with her. I accepted before she had uttered the complete invitation. It was a very special occasion for just the two of us to be out on the town. I came home and was scanning my interesting book and another daughter-in-law stopped in for a visit. The book is Farm Show and has some interesting jokes, anecdotes and unusual recipes. I will give you a couple but you can be glad that I skipped over the ones for Deep Fried Rattlesnake, Castor Oil Cookies and Baked Skunk! There are a few I would like to try before sending them on and it has been interesting reading. I am only half through the magazine.
First I will give you the recipe for a cake that is simple to do and I think you will like it. I didn’t count the calories but it sounds super delicious!
HOLY COW CAKE
I chocolate cake mix
1 can Eagle Brand sweetened condensed milk
1 carton caramel apple dip
1 carton (8 oz.) Cool Whip
1 Nestle’s Crunch bar
Bake cake according to box directions. When done poke holes all over the top. Pour milk over the top and allow to soak in while the cake is warm. Spread caramel over the top and let cool. Layer whipped topping on top with shaved candy bar.
POOR MAN’S DESSERT
12 crackers
3 tablespoons thick jam
2 egg whites, beaten stiff
4 tablespoons sugar
Put some jam on each cracker. Add sugar gradually to the beaten egg whites to make meringue. Cover each cracker with meringue. Place on cookie sheet. Bake in slow oven for 4 minutes, or until browned on top.
Instead of using a milk substitute, try using fruit juice such as pear, apple, peach. Consider also the use of cottage cheese, yogurt, or egg white. Fruit juices make an excellent substitute for the celiac who is both gluten and lactose intolerant.
Monday, July 9, 2012
6/28/12
What a magic day! I am still basking in the pleasant memories. On Wednesday, my five daughters spent the day with me as a Mom-Daughter-Sister day. It took some planning to get everyone free on a week day but it did come to pass. Did you ever hear of the Quiet Corner Tea Room near Churubusco, Indiana? It is a small, secluded, tree surrounded tea room owned by a man and his wife, started about 12 years ago after a storm damaged their workshop. From an idea when they were repairing the damage the Quiet Corner was made a reality.
Two of my daughters had visited the Tea Room and from there they planned our second Mom-Daughter Day. Four of them gathered at my home and we drove to Waterloo to the home of the fifth one. An added bonus of the day was our tour of their garden that is the pride and joy of Judy’s husband, Bob. I have never seen such a productive and well cared for garden, especially this year. It makes me want to buy a brown blanket to match my grass and cover my small excuse for a garden. I thought about a sheet. But the white would draw attention to the fact that something was there. Bob, thanks for your patience in answering questions and letting us see the results of your hard work. (We all received a nice bag of lettuce on our return home.)
We arrived at our destination to find a corner reserved especially for us. A very pleasant lady at a nearby table asked if she could take our picture when one daughter left her place to take a picture of the rest of us. She later stopped by and asked me if she dared to ask how old I am, since she was looking at my daughters and knew I had to be over 49! The Tea room has a very limited but adequate menu. Since it was a tea room, I decided I should have tea and ordered a small pot of peach tea, chicken salad sandwich on homemade rye bread, cottage cheese and peaches. When my pot of tea came, it had a hand sewn,flowered, heavy flannel jacket with openings on each side for the handle and spout. If it had been smaller and my mother had not brought me up so well, I might have put it in my purse!! The owner asked us a few questions and knew an Edgerton resident, then he took us to their bigger dining room and called our attention to a newspaper that announced Lincoln’s assassination and let us view a movie he had made of his dog and sent it to America’s Funniest Home Movies.
When we went outside we saw a white patio table surrounded by nature’s outdoor woodsy environment. Since we had each been given a gift of an antique cup and saucer from two of my daughters, it was suggested that since the table had only two chairs that we pose for a picture of me and each daughter drinking our tea. (Any of you who have Facebook and are friends with any of my family know the rest of the story.) It was a very pleasant experience, but the highlight was the pleasure of spending the whole day with all of my daughters. Why don’t you plan something similar with your sisters and mother?
As I was scanning a 10 year old Quick Cooking annual book I marked about six recipes that I would like to use. Now I have to eliminate four of them. Since I am lazy myself today, I will use that as a determining factor and give you a simple one to start with. I eat oatmeal and cinnamon almost every morning which helps keep my cholesterol and sugar numbers in the satisfactory range, When I am not in the mood for oatmeal, I try to include cinnamon. Here is an idea for a cinnamon spread that can be used on toast or bagels. I am also impressed with cinnamon and raisin bagels.
CINNAMON SPREAD
¼ cup butter, room temperature
¼ cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
Bagels, split
Combine the butter, brown sugar and spices.
Toast bagels and top with spread.
I had to choose between a dessert and a main breakfast entrée. Guess what, the dessert won out 3 to 1 !!
COCONUT CREAM DESSERT
2 ½ cups crushed butter flavored crackers, about 68 crackers
½ cup plus two tablespoons butter, melted
½ gallon vanilla ice cream, softened
½ cup milk
2 packages (3.4 oz., each) instant coconut cream pudding mix
1 carton ( 8 oz.) whipped topping
1/3 cup flaked coconut
Combine crushed crackers and butter. Press into a 9 x 13 inch baking dish. Combine ice cream, milk and pudding mixes. Spread over the crust. Top with whipped topping and coconut. Cover and freeze for up to 2 months. Remove from freezer 15 minutes before serving.
I can barely believe that we have used up another month of this year. Before long will have to think about Christmas. I just got all of my Christmas stuff stored away!
6/21/12
Why is it so difficult for it to rain more than three drops? Should be grateful for the little shower we had on Sunday. At least I didn’t have to try to help my moisture starved plants and flowers. They are a much smaller problem than the fields of crops that are suffering equally and are the lively hood of so many families. God in his own time will provide.
My guardian angel was by my side last week when my grandson’s wife ( I did not want to be criticized for calling her my granddaughter, but that is what she is to me. In my family circle, I do not like the words “step” and “in-law” because they are all mine!) asked me if she could use my garage for a garage sale. If any of you have gone by when my garage door was up, you will understand the hesitancy as I agreed. But it was a fantastic decision in several categories. First of all, I got rid of a lot of accumulations, some of them I even sold. Now there is so much room in there, I don’t have stuff to guide my entry when I park my car. I also like to visit with the people who come to see what we no longer have any use for. Probably the major blessing was that although I was not responsible for the sale, I did not cover the town like I might have and therefore did not bring home a carload of “stuff” that I did not need.
Saturday morning as I was leaving to keep my 8:00 a.m. appointment I could not find my main set of car keys. (that in itself is not unusual) So I just took my spare ones and went on my way. As I opened my purse to pay for my new hairdo, there was my set of keys in my purse! So I made a mental token of thanksgiving to God for looking after me and went on my way. On Elm street there was a young lad waving a sign almost bigger than he was encouraging people to stop at his mother’s garage sale. Now what grandmother cold pass up a plea like that? Since my needs are small, I shopped diligently and decided on a stuffed rabbit for my daughter who teaches school and uses stuffed animals for holiday tokens, birthday gifts and merit prizes for her third grade students. At my next stop, I noticed that one set of my keys was gone again! I reconstructed my actions of the last twenty minutes, circled the block and went back to my original purchase and there among the items for sale was my set of keys! Can I declare mental stability since I could retrace my actions and recover my lost possessions?
We all had a rough emotional day on Saturday as we got word that my sister was critically ill in the emergency room of the hospital. But once again all of the prayers on her behalf were granted and as of now is on the improving list. We accuse her of sitting up nights thinking of new things to go wrong in her physical make up. Guess we can’t complain though because God had brought her through them all leaving her with a very positive attitude of life and a good sense of humor! Hang in there, Kork.
Oh, yes, another blessing of agreeing to lease my garage was that I sold a number of my cook books that I decided to part with by taking them to the Free Store! Still have an ample amount although a customer expressed her desire to come to my house and look more carefully at the ones that are Left. I was looking at one this morning that I could not decided if I still wanted to keep and I noticed a couple of things that I thought you might be interested in.
I am very fond of strawberries with glaze, banana and whipped topping. Often I cannot find sugar free glaze. I found this recipe for making your own glaze so I am keeping it to make my own with Splenda when I get a strawberry withdrawal symptom. Remember to hull the berries with your drinking straw. One of my favorites is coconut cream pie, so I am including a recipe that makes enough for two pies.
GLAZE FOR STRAWBERRY PIE
¾ cup sugar, or sugar substitute
2 tablespoons cornstarch
2 tablespoon s white Karo syrup
1 cup water
2 tablespoons strawberry Jello
Red food coloring
Boil water, cornstarch, sugar and syrup until clear. Add food coloring and Jello. Cool.
HEAVENLY COCONUT CREAM PIE
5 eggs, separated
¾ teaspoon salt
5 cups milk
1 ¼ cups sugar
1 ½ cups coconut
2 tablespoons vanilla
1/3 cup plus 2 tablespoons corn starch
Heat 4 cups milk over low heat but do not boil. Combine sugar and cornstarch. Add remaining cup of milk gradually. Beat egg yolks and stir into milk mixture. Pour mixture slowly into heated milk mixture. Cook on medium heat, stirring constantly until thick. Add vanilla and coconut. Divide and put in 2 baked pie shells. Whip egg whites. Add 2 tablespoons sugar until stiff. Spread over top and bake in moderate oven until light brown.
Thanks for any prayers that you offered for my daughter’s husband who was burned and is recovering nicely. Also for the group on a mission trip to Pennsylvania who reported a great experience and the people whom they were working for were so appreciative.
My guardian angel was by my side last week when my grandson’s wife ( I did not want to be criticized for calling her my granddaughter, but that is what she is to me. In my family circle, I do not like the words “step” and “in-law” because they are all mine!) asked me if she could use my garage for a garage sale. If any of you have gone by when my garage door was up, you will understand the hesitancy as I agreed. But it was a fantastic decision in several categories. First of all, I got rid of a lot of accumulations, some of them I even sold. Now there is so much room in there, I don’t have stuff to guide my entry when I park my car. I also like to visit with the people who come to see what we no longer have any use for. Probably the major blessing was that although I was not responsible for the sale, I did not cover the town like I might have and therefore did not bring home a carload of “stuff” that I did not need.
Saturday morning as I was leaving to keep my 8:00 a.m. appointment I could not find my main set of car keys. (that in itself is not unusual) So I just took my spare ones and went on my way. As I opened my purse to pay for my new hairdo, there was my set of keys in my purse! So I made a mental token of thanksgiving to God for looking after me and went on my way. On Elm street there was a young lad waving a sign almost bigger than he was encouraging people to stop at his mother’s garage sale. Now what grandmother cold pass up a plea like that? Since my needs are small, I shopped diligently and decided on a stuffed rabbit for my daughter who teaches school and uses stuffed animals for holiday tokens, birthday gifts and merit prizes for her third grade students. At my next stop, I noticed that one set of my keys was gone again! I reconstructed my actions of the last twenty minutes, circled the block and went back to my original purchase and there among the items for sale was my set of keys! Can I declare mental stability since I could retrace my actions and recover my lost possessions?
We all had a rough emotional day on Saturday as we got word that my sister was critically ill in the emergency room of the hospital. But once again all of the prayers on her behalf were granted and as of now is on the improving list. We accuse her of sitting up nights thinking of new things to go wrong in her physical make up. Guess we can’t complain though because God had brought her through them all leaving her with a very positive attitude of life and a good sense of humor! Hang in there, Kork.
Oh, yes, another blessing of agreeing to lease my garage was that I sold a number of my cook books that I decided to part with by taking them to the Free Store! Still have an ample amount although a customer expressed her desire to come to my house and look more carefully at the ones that are Left. I was looking at one this morning that I could not decided if I still wanted to keep and I noticed a couple of things that I thought you might be interested in.
I am very fond of strawberries with glaze, banana and whipped topping. Often I cannot find sugar free glaze. I found this recipe for making your own glaze so I am keeping it to make my own with Splenda when I get a strawberry withdrawal symptom. Remember to hull the berries with your drinking straw. One of my favorites is coconut cream pie, so I am including a recipe that makes enough for two pies.
GLAZE FOR STRAWBERRY PIE
¾ cup sugar, or sugar substitute
2 tablespoons cornstarch
2 tablespoon s white Karo syrup
1 cup water
2 tablespoons strawberry Jello
Red food coloring
Boil water, cornstarch, sugar and syrup until clear. Add food coloring and Jello. Cool.
HEAVENLY COCONUT CREAM PIE
5 eggs, separated
¾ teaspoon salt
5 cups milk
1 ¼ cups sugar
1 ½ cups coconut
2 tablespoons vanilla
1/3 cup plus 2 tablespoons corn starch
Heat 4 cups milk over low heat but do not boil. Combine sugar and cornstarch. Add remaining cup of milk gradually. Beat egg yolks and stir into milk mixture. Pour mixture slowly into heated milk mixture. Cook on medium heat, stirring constantly until thick. Add vanilla and coconut. Divide and put in 2 baked pie shells. Whip egg whites. Add 2 tablespoons sugar until stiff. Spread over top and bake in moderate oven until light brown.
Thanks for any prayers that you offered for my daughter’s husband who was burned and is recovering nicely. Also for the group on a mission trip to Pennsylvania who reported a great experience and the people whom they were working for were so appreciative.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)