Entertaining, Family Fun, Family Reunion, Feast on This, Fun with Friends, Holidays, Hospitality, Recipes, Thanksgiving Dinner

A Native Thanksgiving

October 15, 2017November 11, 2017 mrshlovesjesus

Originally featured in my book, Come for Supper, the memoirs of a reluctant hostess, this is one of my very favorite meals. Not because it is top shelf gourmet, for in fact it is probably closer to just being sustenance on that scale; mostly made with government commodities, or what can be scavenged in the wild, using few and extremely inexpensive ingredients. Not to say these aren’t all very yummy dishes though, don’t be scared, just probably not cheffy food, if that’s what you were looking for. The beauty of this meal for me is in savoring the foods of another people. Cultural differences can sometimes separate us, but I am enchanted by the brotherhood of the table and the fellowship of food. Eating modest foods also makes me very thankful for the things that I have, and the extravagant meals I have been blessed to enjoy. In a world where some have the luxury of living-to-eat, this is a great reminder that many many people on this planet eat-to-live, and even with the little that they have, are incredibly generous.

I am drawn to and have a deep affection for the American Indians. I think we all do. Most of us played cowboys and Indians when we were kids. Many of our grandparents told tall tales about having native blood in our lineage. It is the raw deal, and unfair treatment of our native people by our government, that gives us (me, at least) a huge mistrust of the federal government. And although they’ve been tucked away, they have never been forgotten. We admire their courage and bravery, so much so that many of our sports teams have been given names like, “Chiefs” “Braves” “Redskins” and “Indians.” Many towns (and counties) in my native state have Indian names: Sundance, Shoshoni, Meeteetse, Ten Sleep, Crowheart, Chugwater, Arapahoe, Wapiti, Cheyenne, Osage, etc. Movies like Dances With Wolves, Son of the Morning, and Windtalkers reinforce the love affair. Even so, how many of us truly know our native brethren? Or, know anything about what their life is like today (myself included)? Most likely the closest we ever come is visiting a local gambling casino, or reading about some misfortune in the newspaper. By bringing us to a table to celebrate some of their best dishes, I hope to change that a little. This is an interesting article that I really wanted to save for myself, and share with you, as we consider honoring these interesting people with a Native fall feast for our family and friends.

THE FELLOWSHIP OF FOOD…

WATER CRACKERS (Wind River Reservation)

Ingredients

1 lb Commodity flour (about 3 cups of all-purpose flour)

Powdered milk and water to equal about 2/3 cup liquid

1 Tbsp Vegetable shortening

1 tsp Baking soda

1 tsp Salt

Directions:

Mix all ingredients except powdered milk together. Add milk to other ingredients to form a dough and beat it up. If the dough is too sticky to roll out, add a little more flour. Roll it very thin on a flour dusted cutting surface, cut it into pieces with a pizza cutter, lay the pieces on a parchment lined cookie sheet, prick each piece with a fork, and bake it quickly in a 350 degree oven until toasted golden. Try these crackers the traditional way first, but the next time you make them you might wish to substitute fresh whole milk for the powdered milk, 2 Tbsp butter for the shortening and a splash of olive oil, and perhaps sprinkle the dough with a mixture of seeds, or some parmesan cheese, or some finely chopped italian herbs before cutting and baking. These are also nice served with an assortment of cheeses.

THREE SISTERS SOUP (the 3 sisters are beans, corn, and squash)

Ingredients

1 lb beef stew meat

8 cups water

3 spring onions with tops

1 tsp minced garlic

1 can kidney beans and liquid

Half gallon size bag of fresh green beans, sliced (may substitute frozen or canned)

3 ears fresh corn (may substitute frozen or canned)

3 summer squash, cubed

½ tsp oregano (or 3 mint leaves)

2 tsp salt

5 lg squash blossoms

Black Pepper

Directions:

Cook the stew meat in water until tender. Cut corn from cob, chop spring onions, and add all vegetables to water and simmer until tender. Add seasonings, and squash blossoms; simmer 15 minutes. (For vegetarian version omit meat).

This is a mostly authentic recipe, and doesn’t have much flavor, especially if canned vegetables are used, which are most likely. The next time you make it you will want to use beef broth in place of the water, and leftover beef roast, pulled apart. I always prefer fresh vegetables. I also added 1 packet of beef gravy mix and 1 packet of Lipton Onion Soup Mix to my pot. I also added a small can of Rotel Tomatoes, 1 large potato diced, 1 large carrot chopped, a handful of frozen peas, 2 tsp. minced garlic, to the other vegetables, and about a ¼ tsp. of Cayenne powder. Salt and pepper to taste. Delish!

WILD GREENS AND FLOWERS SALAD

Serves 4 to 6

Salads were much liked in the spring when new, tender greens appeared. A great variety of mixtures was used. Since salt was uncommon or not used at all, salads were flavored by herbs, oil pressed from seeds, and especially with vinegar made from fermented, evaporated, uncooked maple sap (which we can’t make or get). So this is an approximation of the spring tonic salads beloved by all woodland people after the long winters.

Ingredients

1 cup watercress leaves and (only) tender stems

1 cup lamb’s ears, quarter new leaves (or use small spinach leaves)

1 cup arugula lettuce torn (not cut) to bite-size pieces;

can also use Bibb or less expensive leafy (not iceberg) lettuces

1 cup Dandelion leaves

1/2 cup tender nasturtium and violet leaves torn up

1/2 cup nasturtium and violet flowers (in season)

1 Tbsp honey

1/4 cup cider vinegar

1/3 cup salad oil

As much tender mint leaves as you like in the salad

2 tsp fresh mint chopped fine and bruised

2 tsp chopped tarragon (fresh) or 1 tsp dried if necessary

optional: salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Combine honey and vinegar, whisk in oil and crushed mint. Season to taste with small amount of salt. Pour over greens and flowers in large bowl, and toss for about 3 minutes to coat everything with dressing. Serve immediately.

If you cannot find the greens and flowers listed, you can use a “spring mix” salad from the produce department and add to that whatever edible flowers and greens that you can find, perhaps look at your local garden center, nursery, or fresh herb store.

SQUASH OR PUMPKIN BLOSSOM FRITTERS (Pueblo style)

serves 4 – 6

Ingredients

2 dozen large squash blossoms

(4 dozen of the smaller pumpkin blossoms)

4 eggs

1/2 cup milk

1 tsp chili powder

1 tsp salt

1/4 tsp cumin powder

2 – 3 cups finely ground cornmeal (masa harina)

Oil for deep frying

Directions:

If you’re a gardener or truck farmer, you can make this dish easy; otherwise you’ll need to visit with a farmer at a Farmer’s Market about getting some blossoms. During the growing season farmers thin the blossoms of their vines, because the vine can’t support but only a couple of pumpkins or a few squash. At season’s end there will be an abundance of flowers, as the fruit will not have time to finish before winter.

Rinse and pat blossoms dry. In a shallow bowl, beat eggs with milk, chili, salt, and cumin. Dip blossoms in egg mix, and then roll gentle in cornmeal. Refrigerate for at least 10 minutes to set coating. Heat 2 inches of oil in a deep saucepan to about 375°, hot but not smoking. Fry blossoms a few at a time until golden, drain on paper towels. Keep warm in 250° oven until ready to serve.

Only in the southwest are the blossoms of squash and pumpkin important as a religious symbol, as well as food. They appear as sacred symbols in many Pueblo ceremonies, and gave rise to a popular design worked in silver.

There is a Hopi Squash Kachina (Patung). He is Chief Kachina (wuya) for the Hopi Pumpkin Clan. He runs with men of a village in spring ceremonial dances to attract rain clouds.

The Hopis and Pueblo farmers gather large quantities of squash and pumpkin flowers at the end of the growing season, when these flowers cannot make fruit; that’s the time white farmers harvest their curcurbitae and pull up or plow under the still-flowering vines.

OR, you may like to try this stuffed blossom recipe….

STUFFED SQUASH BLOSSOMS

Ingredients

2 doz. squash blossoms

Filling:

8 oz. block cream cheese

1 cup shredded Monterey Jack Cheese

1 Tbsp chopped green onion

Batter:

1½ c. flour

½ tsp salt

¾ to 1 cup dry white wine

cooking oil for frying

Directions:

The authentic way is not to stuff the blossoms, but simply to batter and fry them, or just fry them naked in melted shortening. This is a recipe I stumbled across recently and enjoyed. Pick large squash blossoms in early morning just before they open. (I used my garden zucchini blossoms that had opened already and they turned out okay). Heat 1-2” oil in heavy Dutch oven. Meanwhile, stuff blossoms with a tablespoon of filling. Smooth peddles over filling, and make batter. When oil is ready (pops and crackles when a drop of water is added), drop each blossom into batter, turning to coat evenly, and then immediately into hot oil. Turn while frying to cook evenly on all sides, and remove with a slotted spoon when they have turned golden-brown. Drain on paper towels, and serve hot as an accompaniment for soup. Or, they also make a great appetizer with a spicy marinara sauce to dip them in.

FRYBREAD

This recipe makes 8-10 small ones or 5 big flat ones

Ingredients

2 cups flour

3 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

1 cup milk

Deep hot fat in fry pan or fryer

Directions:

Sift dry ingredients. Lightly stir in milk. Add more flour as necessary to make a dough you can handle. Kneed and work the dough on a floured board with floured hands until smooth. Pinch off fist-sized lumps and shape into slightly twisted ropes — everyone has their own characteristic shapes.(Shape affects the taste, by the way because of how it fries). For Indian tacos, shape dough into a rather flat disk shape, with a depression — almost a hole — in the center of both sides. Make it that way if the fry bread is going to have some sauce over it. Smaller, round ones are made to put on a plate. Fry in deep fat (about 375°) until golden and done on both sides, about 5 minutes. Drain on absorbent paper. (My grandmother made what she called, “Squaw Bread” at least once a month when I was growing up. Her’s was made from regular yeast dough. It was one of my favorite things on earth!!!!)

MODERN WOJAPE

Wojape (Wo-zha-pee), a pudding, a dessert. Wojape is traditional to the Sioux and other Northern Plains Nations and predates most of us living now. This is a berry pudding to eat with fry bread. It was made with fresh wild berries collected during that season and also dried berries, preserved for use through the winter. The berries were mixed with sugar when it became available, and also flour for thickener. Today is a different time and Wojape, like many other things, has adapted to the easy access of ingredients. However, it is just as delicious. It can be eaten after a meal as a dessert or as many “out there” know, as a main course maybe with a hot cup of coffee. She calls it modern because of using any kind of frozen berries, “We moderns often use government commodities gallon cans.” This recipe makes enough for about 20-30 people who have 1-2 fry breads.

Many thanks for this recipe go to: Ms. Stacy Winter of Crow Creek, Rapid City, South Dakota.

Ingredients

1 Bag (5 lb) frozen berries (blueberry, raspberry, cherry or a mix)

8 cup Water

2 cup Sugar

Cornstarch or Arrowroot

Directions:

To a 5 quart pot (enamel or stainless steel) add all the berries and smash them with a potato masher. (If you are fortunate enough to have a food processor this would work fine also. However, stop just short of puree, you want fine pieces throughout.) To the smashed berries add the water and sugar. Boil (lightly) this mixture (Approximately 15 to 20 minutes) until everything is cooked. Thicken to desired thickness with cornstarch that has been dissolved in cold water. Serve warm and eat with Indian Fry Bread. Dip the bread into the Wojape and eat in this manner.

Wojape is also outstanding on French Toast, Pancakes, plain Cheesecake, over ice cream, and is excellent served over Angel Food Cake with a dallop of whipped cream.

INDIAN FRYBREAD TACOS

6 servings

Frybread tacos are very much like the Elephant Ear tacos that we used to get at the carnival when the rodeo was in town. Very easy and one of my favorite things to eat. If I have leftover homemade chili I use it in place of the meat recipe here. And when I can’t find Anasazi beans, and I’m in a hurry, I just substitute canned pintos.

Ingredients

6 pieces Indian Frybread — about 6” in diameter

1 lb hamburger

1 large onion minced

2 small cans tomato paste

1 big can tomatoes

1/2 tsp oregano

1 Tbsp chile powder

salt, pepper to taste

Fry onion and hamburger broken up loose. Sprinkle some salt and chile powder over it. Add tomato paste and 4 cans of water and the canned tomatoes and their juice — break up tomatoes and stir it around. Add basil and oregano. Taste for seasoning. If you want, you can use a taco seasoning packet in place of seasonings, and a mild tomato salsa in place of tomato paste and tomatoes. Simmer till meat and onions are done and sauce is thick, 30 – 40 minutes.

Toppings:

1/2 lb cheese grated coarse

1 1/2 c Dried anasazi beans, cooked

1 1/2 c Mache or arugula, washed & stemmed (I’ve often substituted Cilantro, chopped)

1 lg Red ripe tomato, sliced

2 ea Ripe avocados, halved & sliced

1 ea Red onion, thinly sliced

1 ea Bunch red radishes, sliced

24 ea Golden yellow plum tomatoes halved

6 ea Green Anaheim (New Mexico) chiles, prepared (I’ve sometimes substituted Poblanos when Anaheims are out of season or unavailable)

1 lg Red bell pepper

Directions:

To prepare the anasazi beans, soak overnight in water to cover. The next day, drain the beans and place them in a saucepan with fresh water to cover. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat, and let the beans simmer until the skins break, about 3 hours. It may be necessary to add water as the beans cook to prevent them from burning and sticking. After the beans are cooked, remove from the heat and set aside. You should have about 3 cups cooked beans. While the beans are cooking, roast, seed, and de-vein the chiles and the bell pepper. Leave chiles whole; slice pepper lengthwise into six strips.

To Assemble the tacos, place a layer of meat mixture, cheese, and 1/2 cup cooked beans on each piece of frybread. Add 1/4 cup greens per taco, followed by a red tomato slice. Add slices avocado and 1 thin slice red onion, separated into rings. Follow with radishes and 4 golden yellow plum tomatoes per taco, and top with 1 roasted green chile and 2 slices roasted red pepper. You can vary the toppings and the order in which the taco is built, and for a vegetarian version omit the meat sauce and cheese.

You may also wish to offer Sour Cream (I like the Mexican Crema) and salsa (favorite jarred, or refrigerated varieties).

NAPOLIAS (Cactus)

Ingredients

1 servings

1 lb Pork

2 Cloves garlic, minced

1 lg Onion, diced

3 c Water

2 can (8 oz) tomato sauce

1 can (6 oz) tomato paste

1 lg can stewed tomatoes

1 lb Green cactus, peeled & diced

Salt

Pepper

1/4 t. Cumin

Seasoning salt

Directions:

Cube the pork; fry in a skillet with onion and garlic. In a large Dutch oven, add all ingredients, salt and pepper to taste and 1/4 tsp. cumin and seasoned salt. Cook until meat is tender. You might like to season this with an assortment of dried ground up chili peppers, like New Mexico red chilies, green chilies, chipotle chilies, and little chili pequine, to make it like a Chili Colorado. Very good with corn cakes, or the pinion squash bread featured below!

Cactus (fresh, small, thick pads): Remove spines with knife and peel, or purchase at market in a jar, diced and packed in its own juices. You can usually find it at Mexican markets; the cactus referred to is generally prickly-pear cactus. The juice from the prickly pear cactus is also useful in Native American craftwork, specifically painting with earth paints.

PUEBLO PUMPKIN/SQUASH PIÑON NUT SWEETBREAD

Makes One loaf, serves 6 – 8

Rio Grande Pueblo peoples traditionally served a variant of this sweetbread to parties of nut-pickers in September when piñon nuts were being picked from the mountain slope trees. Families would (and some still do) camp for many weeks in traditional areas reserved to clans. In the recipe you can use either cooking-type pumpkin (these have necks and thick, meaty bodies, not like jack o’ lantern pumpkins) or a sweet bright orange squash, like butternut.

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups unbleached flour

1 cup finely mashed or pureed pumpkin/squash

3/4 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup melted butter (1 stick)

2 eggs beaten foamy

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp grated nutmeg

1/2 tsp salt

3/4 cup pine nuts

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350. In a mixing bowl, combine flour, salt, baking powder, sugar, spices. Stir in pumpkin, eggs, butter. Stir pine nuts into thick batter. Scrape into a greased 6 x 9 loaf pan. Bake for 1 hour or until knife inserted in bread comes out clean.

This sweetish, spicy bread goes well with soups, stews, and can also be a dessert, especially if you cut it apart and put yogurt or applesauce over it.

OR, this is a sweeter, less cinnamony version that lets the pumpkin shine through…

PUMPKIN PINE-NUT BREAD

Makes 2 loaves

Ingredients

2 c Flour

1/2 c Oil

3 Eggs, beaten

1 1/2 c Sugar

1 teaspoons Baking soda

1 teaspoons Vanilla

3/4 c Milk

2 c Cooked pumpkin

1/2 tsp Salt

1 1/2 c Pine nuts, roasted

Directions:

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Mix dry ingredients in a large bowl. In a medium size bowl, mix eggs, milk, oil and vanilla. Mix well, then add pumpkin. Mix well and folk into dry ingredients. Add pine nuts. Pour batter into 2 greased 5×9-inch loaf pans and bake for 45 minutes.

The pine nuts generally taste better if, before they’re added to the mix, you put them on an ungreased cookie sheet in the oven for about 10 minutes at about 350-400 degrees. It roasts them a little. But watch them carefully to make sure they don’t burn.

MAPLE-PUMPKIN CHEESECAKE

Ingredients

1 Graham cracker crust in 8″ spring form pie pan

1 lb low-fat cottage cheese

1/2 cup plain low-fat yogurt

3/4 cup pumpkin puree (or 1 can)

1/4 cup flour

3 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

1/4 cup maple syrup

1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice

Directions:

Preheat oven to 325°. Put all ingredients into blender, a little at a time, alternating wet and dry. Process until smooth, then pour into crust and spread evenly. Bake for about 50 minutes. Let cool before serving. May be topped with yogurt, flavored with 2 Tbsp maple syrup. Take it up a notch drizzled over with caramel sauce, and sprinkled with chopped pecans.

DSCN8462 .

A TASTE OF CULTURE…

If you have kiddos, you can make this supper a lot of fun for them. This is also a great get-together for church, or a Senior Center, or a classroom if you are a teacher, or homeschooler? Below are the cornucopia of ideas I’ve collected over the years for either a dinner party, or you can use them as activities during a weekend or weeklong festival.

Background Music: Tribal Winds, Music from Native American Flutes; also cd Good Medicine by John Two-Hawks – American Indian Lakota flute player & musician. I actually have several CD’s that I love, shown below. (Not shown: Gathering of Shamen – Native Flute Ensemble, Medicine Man – Pete “Wyoming” Bender, The Stories of Red Feather Woman – also featuring the music of Andrew Vasquez, with special guest Rodney Grant – Windriver).

Host a Pow-Wow: American Indians, at least those I am familiar with (Northern Arapaho, Eastern Shoshoni, Lakota Sioux, and Utah Navajo ) have an annual party called a Pow-Wow. They set up teepees, do dances, trade and sell craft items, share food, pray, play games, pass the peace pipe, and tell stories. Thermopolis Wyoming is home to the annual Pow-wow of the Windriver tribes, the Gift of the Waters Pageant, and they tell the history/stories of the giving of the healing waters (see clip on Facebook).

Here’s a fun idea: ask your guests to bring “trade items” (things they have outgrown, don’t use, or don’t want any more) to trade with each other. All unwanted items can be donated to a local charity thrift store after the get-together.

Hoop and Pole Game

Natives of different groups have their own special ways to play the Hoop and Pole game, but in all the games a person tosses a long dart of some kind at a circular hoop. In this version of the game the hoop is rolled along the ground, set into motion by a third player, while the two other players throw their pole as the hoop rolls in front of them. The score depends on how or if the pole falls on or through the hoop. Netted hoops are made by the Arapaho of Wyoming and other tribes.

Navajo tribes play a stick and dice game, and also a shoe game. Google them to see how they are played.

The Sun Dance, usually conducted once a year, is a custom of the Arapaho people. The Sun Dance is a sort of prayer ceremony. See more about it here.

Navajo Blanket collage — Navajo Blanket (given to me by my father-in-law) collage

PEACE PIPE

As the sun sets, gather everyone around to sit “Indian style” in a circle in the center of the yard around a fire pit. Pass around a “peace pipe” with imaginary tobacco in it and let everyone take a puff. This ritual in Arapaho belief is supposed to bond friendships. Encourage the oldest men of the group to pass on some of their wisdom to the younger by telling interesting stories of their boyhood, what games they played, things they did with their parents, faith experiences, etc. Some can share lessons they learned from mistakes they made. Maybe dad or grandpa or Uncle Jerry has a “vision” for the family (or church, or group) or a weird dream that they had that they would like to share.

CRAFTS

LoomWeaving — Make a loom and weave pot holders

beaded-mocs-01-900x499 — Make Beaded Moccasins

8e71f5f8f437a239611eed2b59fe6114 — Make a Dream Catcher

The following are items I made for my granddaughter’s teacher to use for a center in her Kindergarten classroom this year.

Garden Collage2mrsH — Make a “Pretend Garden” using an old wooden box covered in burlap, pantyhose filled with black beans for the rows of soil, and hand-stitched felt veggies. Let the littles enjoy hours of play planting and replanting veggies.

BowArrowInstruments — Dollar Store bows, with homemade quivers for the arrows, plastic Bowie knives in homemade sheaths, and and assortment of primative instruments – they look cooler with feathers tied to them! Set up deer silhouettes and various parts of the yard and let the littles go hunting for food. Also let them make music for dancing.

Cane Pole Fishing — Homemade Bamboo “Cane Poles” with string and child-safe hooks, and little fishes that they can catch with them. Make a “pretend pond” and let the littles catch fish for supper.

When you were born, you cried

and the world rejoiced.

Live your life

so that when you die,

the world cries and you rejoice. — White Elk

We do not want schools….
they will teach us to have churches.
We do not want churches….
they will teach us to quarrel about God.
We do not want to learn that.
We may quarrel with men sometimes
about things on this earth,
but we never quarrel about God.
We do not want to learn that.

–Heinmot Tooyalaket ( Chief Joseph), Nez Perce Leader

“Behold I lay in Zion a Chief Cornerstone, elect, precious, and he who believes on Him will by no means be put to shame.” 1 Peter 2:6

Chief Cornerstone collage — (Photo of a Christian T-shirt from eons ago)

Bible Study, Devotional, Feast on This, Sunday School Lessons, The Parables

The Parable of the Wise and Foolish Virgins

October 2, 2017May 19, 2018 mrshlovesjesus

“Then the kingdom of heaven shall be likened to ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Now five of them were wise, and five were foolish.”

There’s a little bit of dialog out there on who the Virgins might be. Are they the church? Are they the Jewish people who finally believe in Jesus as their Messiah during the great tribulation? I’ll leave that to Jesus to reveal when the time comes. What is important is that we make sure we are not foolish Virgins!

Using scripture to understand scripture let’s see if 2 Timothy 3 might shed a little light on who some foolish virgins could be.

“But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: ²For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, ³unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, ⁴traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, ⁵having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away! ⁶For of this sort are those who creep into households and make captives of gullible women loaded down with sins, led away by various lusts, ⁷always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. ⁸Now as Jannes and Jambres resisted Moses, so do these also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, disapproved concerning the faith; ⁹but they will progress no further, for their folly will be manifest to all, as theirs also was.” — 2 Timothy 3:1-9

Jannes and Jambres are interestingly named in this passage by Paul, but their names do not appear in the scriptures referenced (Exodus 7:11&22). Their names come from “an unwritten teaching of the Jews,” according to Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown’s Concordance on the Whole Bible. The concordance in my Bible says they were the magicians who duplicated Aaron and Moses’s miracles before Pharoah, to undermine their credibility. They were able to turn a rod into a serpent, and water into blood, just like Aaron and Moses had done. According to quotes from Numebius (whoever that was), Jannes and Jambres were “sacred scribes, of a lower order of priests in Egypt, who were skilled in magic.” Hiller (not sure who this guy is either) interprets the name Jannes from the Abyssinian language to mean a trickster, and Jambres to mean a juggler. What’s most important is that they resisted or withstood by exibiting lying wonders to manipulate Pharoah, just as will be done in the last days by false prophets to manipulate mankind (Matthew 24:24; 2 Thes. 2:9; Revelation 13:14-15).

“Those who were foolish took their lamps and took no oil with them, but the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps.”

Oil is a symbol of the Holy Spirit; the kings and priests in the old Testament were anointed with oil for the work of their office, in the new Testament WE, Christians are kings and priests (Rev.1:6; 5:9,10), and are anointed with the Holy Spirit (1 John 2:20,27) for the work of our office.

Visit these websites to learn more:

http://www.bibletools.org/index.cfm/fuseaction/Topical.show/RTD/cgg/ID/1107/Oil-as-Symbol.htm

http://www.jackhayford.org/teaching/articles/symbols-of-the-holy-spirit/

https://www.blueletterbible.org/faq/don_stewart/don_stewart_433.cfm

http://www.loyolapress.com/symbols-of-the-holy-spirit.htm

I know you know the song, “This Little Light of Mine, I’m Gonna Let it Shine…” again using scripture to understand scripture let’s go to Acts 19 and Acts 1 to see how the Holy Spirit becomes that light in our lamps.

And it happened, while Apollos was at Corinth, that Paul, having passed through the upper regions, came to Ephesus. And finding some disciples ²he said to them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” So they said to him, “We have not so much as heard whether there is a Holy Spirit.” ³And he said to them, “Into what then were you baptized?” So they said, “Into John’s baptism.” ⁴Then Paul said, “John indeed baptized with a baptism of repentance, saying to the people that they should believe on Him who would come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus.” ⁵When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. ⁶And when Paul had laid hands on them, the Holy Spirit came upon them, and they spoke with tongues and prophesied. Acts 19:1-6

But you shall receive power (boldness) when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me^[^a^] in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” Acts 1:8

“But while the bridegroom was delayed, they all slumbered and slept.”

Have you ever gotten tired of waiting for something? A wife or husband to get ready to leave the house for an activity? The weatherman’s report during the evening news? Getting to where you are going, on a long trip? What do you do to pass the time? Play on your phone? Play some music? Take a little cat-nap? The Virgins “slumbered” and “slept.” I thought the two word choices were interesting, so I decided to look up those two words in my Word Study New Testament reference books. Here’s what I found:

The word Slumbered (verb) in this verse is the English translation of the Greek word nustazo, (Strongs #3573), and means to nod off, just like one does sitting in a chair with a full belly on a sunny afternoon after church, and when their head falls they wake back up again. Its grammatical notation is “aorist indicative active” which means it is not a continuous action as actual sleeping would be, also it is voluntary on the part of the person or people, in other words they weren’t drugged or boxed in the head, they just drifted off and closed their heavy eyelids for a moment of their own accord.

The word Slept (verb) in this verse is the English translation of the Greek word katheudo, (Strongs #2518), and means exactly “sleep” – lose consiousness. Its grammatical notation is “imperfect tense” (actually: imperfect 3-person plural to be specific), which, not being a Bible scholar by any stretch, appears to me to mean “to sleep in every sense of the word.” Soooo, what is “every sense of the word?” Thayer’s Greek Lexicon lists (crazily enough) “three” senses of the word and here they are:

a. properly (sleep): as used in Matthew 8:24; Matthew 9:24 (on this and its parallels, cf. B. D. American edition, p. 1198{a}); ; Mark 4:27, 38; Mark 5:39; Mark 13:36; Mark 14:37, 40; Luke 8:52; Luke 22:46; 1 Thessalonians 5:7.

b. euphemistically (to be dead): as used in 1 Thessalonians 5:10; (Psalm 87:6 (); Daniel 12:2).

c. metaphorically (to yield to sloth and sin, and be indifferent to one’s salvation): as used in Ephesians 5:14; 1 Thessalonians 5:6.

What? Whoa! So since slumbered comes first I’m guessing it applies to the wise virgins, who are always listed first, and the foolish, who are always listed second, must be the ones who flat out slept — in not only the proper sense of the word, but the euphemistic, and metaphorical senses as well, which totally confirms what 2 Timothy 3 said all the way up there at the start of this Bible Study, and very much triple defines their “foolishness.”

¹³But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope. ¹⁴For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus.^[^b^] ¹⁵For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep. 1 Thessalonians 4:13-15

But you, brethren, are not in darkness, so that this Day should overtake you as a thief. ⁵You are all sons of light and sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness. ⁶Therefore let us not sleep, as others do, but let us watch and be sober. ⁷For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk are drunk at night. ⁸But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet the hope of salvation. ⁹For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, ¹⁰who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him. ¹¹Therefore comfort each other and edify one another, just as you also are doing. 1 Thessalonians 5:4-11

“And at midnight a cry was heard: ‘Behold, the bridegroom is coming; go out to meet him!’”

Have you ever studied the Jewish wedding customs? If you are interested, you’ll find a little bit about them in my blog posts about the Feast of Trumpets, the Feast of Atonement, and the Feast of Tabernacles. The wedding customs are so perfectly intertwined with the last three Jewish feasts, and this parable. And just like the bridegrooms of Jesus’ day returned for their brides…

For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. ¹⁷Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. ¹⁸Therefore comfort one another with these words. 1 Thessalonians 4:16-18

Oh praise Jesus, I am comforted. Aren’t you? That if we die, or if we nod off He’ll wake us up?

“Then all those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’ But the wise answered, saying, ‘No, lest there should not be enough for us and you; but go rather to those who sell, and buy for yourselves.’”

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The foolish virgins should have known that the Holy Spirit cannot be purchased, it is a gift given without merit by Jesus – not of works lest any man should boast; but in not knowing they showed that they were not really His. They were of the same spirit as Simon:

And when Simon saw that through the laying on of the apostles’ hands the Holy Spirit was given, he offered them money, ¹⁹saying, “Give me this power also, that anyone on whom I lay hands may receive the Holy Spirit.” ²⁰But Peter said to him, “Your money perish with you, because you thought that the gift of God could be purchased with money! ²¹You have neither part nor portion in this matter, for your heart is not right in the sight of God.²²Repent therefore of this your wickedness, and pray God if perhaps the thought of your heart may be forgiven you. ²³For I see that you are poisoned by bitterness and bound by iniquity.” Acts 8:18-23

The Virgins were all part of the same wedding party, but only half were wise, only half had oil and the others did not. In the same way, not everyone who attends church, or even serves in the church, is truly part of it. There are tares among us who are members, and even leaders in our churches. They have a form of godliness, but deny the power thereof. The power thereof is the Holy Spirit, so in essence they are denying (refusing) the Holy Spirit access to them, or denying the Holy Spirit’s existence. Either way, they are imposters – perhaps even wolves in sheep’s clothing.

Like Simon, they could also be poisoned by bitterness – the KJV says, “in the gall of bitterness.” Vinegar mixed with gall was offered to Jesus as He was about to be crucified and after tasting it He refused to drink it. Jesus refused to be poisoned with bitterness about His circumstances. In Exodus 15:22-26 we are told of bitter waters made sweet by a tree. Peter referred to the cross of Jesus as a tree (1Peter 2:24). If I were asked to define the word bitterness, I would say it is disappointment or unforgiveness from somewhere in our past left to fester into an infection of the heart. Some of the first things Jesus impressed upon me to do as a new Christian was to go to the people in my life whom I had unforgiveness for, and speak forgiveness to them. In so doing the Lord healed my bitter heart. Do you have an infection of the heart? Jesus is the only way to freedom. Let Jesus pry your cold, stiff hands off those hurts and resentments so that His Holy Spirit can come in and take their place, and turn your heart of stone into a heart of flesh.

Simon was also bound by iniquity, or as the KJV puts it, “in the bond of iniquity” which paints a clearer picture in my mind of a person with Satan’s hands clutched around his/her ankles and being drug with them everywhere they go, or Satan having them in a head-lock perhaps. Rather than give up whatever hurts he had or try to untangle his feet from shackles of sin, Simon just wanted to deny that they existed and pretend to be saved. Perhaps his sins were embarrassing? Or maybe he didn’t think his sins were all that big a deal? If Jesus could just give us a glimpse of the invisible stuff we carry around with us, I think it would shock us. And I think if we saw how ugly all of it really is we’d beg to have it off of us immediately.

Christ came to set the captives FREE. It is for freedom that Christ sets us free, and if He sets us free we are free indeed. If old hurts have had a hold on you; if a sinful past has held you back from trusting Jesus and Christians, don’t!!!! You might be able to hide it from people, but it is not hidden from God. God can’t let you into heaven with all of that junk hanging on you, that’s why He sent His SON to cleanse you of it and set you free from it. Do you want to be free? Confess your sins to Him and let Him wash them away in His redeeming blood. Find a pastor or Christian that you can trust and ask them to pray with you. Satan wants you to be shackled to your stuff forever, and he’ll think of every clever arguement that he can to keep you bound to him, but Jesus gives you a choice. Let it go! Be ready when Jesus comes, and not off on a fool’s errand when it’s time to go?

“And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding; and the door was shut. “Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, ‘Lord, Lord, open to us!’ But he answered and said, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, I do not know you.’”

“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. ²²Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ ²³And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’ Matthew 7:21-23

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Does Jesus know me? Do I know Him? Do I practice lawlessness, or do I do the will of My Father?

(The scriptures are so completely intertwined. To continue studying along this vein click on Happy Firey Tongues Day , 365 Random Acts of Kindness , and No Man Knows the Day/Hour)

“Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming.”

6f0052dd4a5b19e4a775ed5319647a1c-oil-lamps-lds-art — Image shared from Pinterest

“But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven,[e] but My Father only. But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. Then two men will be in the field: one will be taken and the other left. Two women will be grinding at the mill: one will be taken and the other left. Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour[f] your Lord is coming. But know this, that if the master of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into. Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect. Matthew 24:36-44

But concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I should write to you. ²For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night. ³For when they say, “Peace and safety!” then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman. And they shall not escape. ⁴But you, brethren, are not in darkness, so that this Day should overtake you as a thief. 1 Thessalonians 5:1-4

Let me just say that Noah didn’t know the exact day or hour that God would flood the earth, but he knew the ark would save him. He trusted God, and did the will of God to build it, and we do the will of God to be watching and ready…

“My sheep hear My voice” John 10:27. “But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come.” John 16:13

The Bible tells us that the gospel shall be preached in all the world, and then the end will come! Matthew 24:14 & Revelation 14:6,7.

Has the gospel been preached in all the earth? I don’t know. But it has certainly been preached in YOUR hearing today. Are you ready for His return?

“…choose you this day whom ye will serve; … ” Joshua 24:15 (KJV)

Bible Study, Devotional, Feast on This, Hospitality, Testimonies & Personal Stories

Unless I Wash You

July 26, 2017March 9, 2018 mrshlovesjesus

“”What I am doing you do not understand now,

but you will know after this.”

John 13:7

Have you ever been to a foot-washing ceremony? If yes, how did it make you feel? Were you uncomfortable taking your shoes off and exposing your stinky feet to someone you looked up to, like maybe a leader in the church, or the leader at a ministry where you volunteered? Sounds like I might have some personal experience, doesn’t it? Well, yes, as a matter of fact, you’d be right.

I worked as a counselor of sorts in the lending closet of a crisis pregnancy center for a time, and at one of our monthly meetings (where we would communicate information between the board, the directors, and the staff, and also have devotions and prayer), both of our directors rose up from their seats and began filling little tubs for each of the staff members. Our directors had just returned from a director’s retreat and explained to us how they had felt the Lord leading them to wash our feet. Oh no, I thought to myself, no, no, no! Que the panic attack of the century! Of all the hot summer days to be wearing my cheapo, made-in-China, dime store tennis shoes, and without socks. My feet are going to wreak! There’s no way I’m taking these shoes off my feet in this crowded room, much less let someone else take them off for me with their sniffer right down there at toe level. Oh heck no. Nope. Not happening.

Now, please don’t misunderstand me. I didn’t mean any disrespect, and surely didn’t want to put a damper on the spiritual experience at all, but I was squirming and sweating profusely, and was not in my right mind. I was scared to death that my racing thoughts would soon start spilling out all over my face. Thank God I was seated at the end of the chairs (a benefit of always sitting in the back of the room); this gave me a decent amount of time to try and figure out a game plan, an excuse, maybe, for running out early.

I didn’t run, however, and I’m not sure why not, except I was hoping someone else in the room would raise an objection, a genius excuse, and then I could chime in with my support, and the two of us would get out of it together. But no such luck. Each person seemed completely uninhibited, (of stinking course, gawd, why am I the only basket case in the room, ever), and each appeared to appreciate the experience. Lord have mercy.

When it got around to me, the last person, I tried everything in the book to get out of it, discretely, but the director wasn’t having any of it. She absolutely, positively would not take “No thank you” for an answer. So I begged her if I could then just please take my shoes off my own self and hurry and plunge my feet into the sudsy water while she was still a good distance away? Maybe she could hold her breath and we could spritz some air freshener in the room? And maybe I could wrap my shoes up in a grocery sack and toss them out the back door while everyone was distracted, please! OMG, I was so humiliated and embarrassed.

Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come from God and was going to God, rose from supper and laid aside His garments, took a towel and girded Himself. After that, He poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet, and to wipe them with the towel with which He was girded. Then He came to Simon Peter. And Peter said to Him, “Lord, are You washing my feet?”

Jesus answered and said to him, “What I am doing you do not understand now, but you will know after this.”

Peter said to Him, “You shall never wash my feet!”

Jesus answered him, “If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me.”

Simon Peter said to Him, “Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head!”

Jesus said to him, “He who is bathed needs only to wash his feet, but is completely clean; and you are clean, but not all of you.” John 13:3-10

You know what? My feet did not come out of the tub the same way as they went in. When they came out they were clean. They were stink free. The sweat and the dirt had been washed away. My heart-failure was over. I could finally relax and be humbled by the kind ministry taking place. Our director washed my feet, and also prayed for me while doing so, and spoke words of prophesy over me. I felt strength enter my body. I felt blessed.

The Practice of Hospitality

Foot washing was first introduced in Genesis 18:4 by Abraham and 19:2 by Lot, and then in Genesis 24:32 by Laban, and Genesis 43:24 by Joseph. It is seen again in the strange story of the Levite and his concubine and the old man in Gibeah – Judges 19:21. Levitical priests were required to wash their hands and feet before entering the tabernacle (God’s house) Ex. 30:18-21.

It was once a common custom and courtesy in the ancient Near East to wash the feet of guests (as noted in my Spirit Filled Life Bible, Thomas Nelson Publishers, NKJV, footnote for Judges 19:21). Most people of Bible days wore sandals, and all that walking around that they did in those days must have made their feet very dirty. Not only would it have been a welcome refreshment to get the sweat and dirt off their feet before sitting down to a meal, but it surely also helped keep the houses from being tracked into, and the bedding from getting soiled.

A note in my NKJV study Bible for Mark 6:11 says that Jews, returning home from a journey also used to knock the heathen dust off their sandals the moment they reentered Jewish territory.

This is probably the custom Jesus drew upon to instruct His disciples to knock the dust off their sandals as a testimony against any town or home who would not receive them or hear them when they preached the good news to them (Matthew 10:14; Mark 6:11; Luke 9:5). Paul and Barnabas actually did this in Acts 13:51.

The Hebrew word for ground or earth is adamah (Strongs #127). The Bible says “the Lord God formed the man (Adam) of dust (adamah) from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature” (Genesis 2:7), but after the sinful fall of mankind God said, “By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken for you are dust, and to dust you shall return” (Gen 3:19). But, in case we should think it was only Adam whom God considers dust, “For he knows our frame; he remembers that we are dust” (Psalm 103:14).

In the New Testament there is the story of a sinful woman with an alabaster flask who “stood at [Jesus’] feet behind Him weeping; and washed His feet with her tears, and wiped them with the hair of her head; and she kissed His feet and anointed them with the fragrant oil” Luke 7:36-47.

Jesus compared her actions to a foot washing, and He forgave her sins. And He forgave her sins! (wait a minute….EPIPHANY!!!!)

What if a foot washing is something like a baptism – a mini cleansing of the sole from earthly heathen soil, which we are bound to get on us simply by being in the world?

Of course we are cleansed of our sins (past, present, and future) by our Savior’s blood when we are born again and baptized, so we are essentially cleansed and do not need any other “baptism.” But…we ARE imperfect humans, and in this world we will have troubles (John 16:33); we’ll slip up from time to time – lose our temper, tell a white lie, borrow something and forget to return it, show partiality to someone, disobey God, etc. We may think these are insignificant, or secret sins, but God sees them. He smells our stinky feet, and whether we realize it or not, we are tracking heathen dust into our homes, into our friends’ homes, and into HIS house! But I have good news. When we’ve gotten some inevitable earthly dust on us James 5:16 tells us to confess our sins to one another, and pray Jesus to … well … wash our feet of them (1 John 1:7-9 & John 13:10).

Jesus, after explaining to His disciples who He was in relation to God the Father said, “If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example that you should do as I have done to you” John 13:14-15.

I have often wondered, since foot washing has really gone by the wayside in many modern churches, as far as a frequent practice, did Jesus mean His actions to be figurative? Did He simply mean for us His followers to humble ourselves and be willing to serve others in the lowliest of ways? Or did He really intend that we literally wash each other’s feet – to symbolize God’s forgiveness and the washing away of our little daily sins? To be honest, something tugs at me in my heart that Jesus intended the basin & towel to be more than a lost and forgotten ritual, but the saved person’s sort of confessional? Plus, instead of falling into the bad habit of tearing down our brothers and sisters, pointing out all their little sins and flaws, we could have mercy to forgive them, love them, and get down to toe level with the Lord’s basin and towel.

The practice did continue in the New Testament church. It is on the list of the virtues of a godly woman in 1 Timothy 5:9-10: “She [is] the wife of one man, well reported for good works, brings up children, lodges strangers, washes the saints’ feet, relieves the afflicted, and diligently follows every good work.”

Could it be that the lowly chore was delegated to the women? According to Rabbinical Literature, Jewish wives were once expected to wash their husband’s feet, as well as prepare their drink and bed (Yer.Ket. v.30a, jewishencyclopedia.com); otherwise servants were expected to wash the feet of guests.

What’s kind of ironic about women being relegated to this chore is that we girls LOVE to have our feet washed, don’t we? In today’s modern world we don’t make foot washing a part of our hospitality practices any more, but we do still observe the ritual in a way – we just go to a special (non spiritual) place to have it done and we pay for it. We call it a pedicure, and it is definitely a treat! Wouldn’t it be neat if there were Christian pedicure places, where we could go and it would be safe, and we could confess our sins, and we could leave with a whole new lease on life? Maybe the next time I get a pedicure I will put my headphones on, close my eyes, and spend the time in quiet meditation, discretely giving my sins to God.

“Confess your sins one to another” it says in James 5:16 (see also 1 John 1:8-9).

Say… what am I thinking? You and I can do this right now. What have you been struggling with this week? This month? This year? Have you been tracking sins into your house, into God’s house?

May I wash your feet?

How about if you think of all the little shortcomings, and sins that have entangled you this week. What is it that is weighing heavy on your heart? What is it that is making you feel guilty way down in your gut, and holding you back from running the race our Lord has marked out for you? Go ahead, take a moment and write your thoughts down?

When you have finished calling to mind each and every ugly little thing that is nagging in your spirit, will you please then come sit in this seat, slip your shoes off, and slide your feet into this tub of hot, soapy water I have prepared for you. I’m going to dunk a soft cloth into the water and run it over the tops and bottoms of your feet, and then squeeze the water over them. As I do, I want you to imagine the Lord’s forgiveness washing over your shortcomings as you give each one of them to Him. You name them, I’ll wash that dust off with this holy water, and we’ll just go for as long as we need to until we’ve covered everything on your list. You are precious dear one. The Lord loves you. And He forgives you!

Now lift your feet out of the water and let me dry them with a soft, fluffy towel. Don’t you feel wonderful getting that off your chest?

Let’s now pour this dirty water out on a flower bed, or under a big oak tree in your yard. All this water is sure going make the flowers and trees grow and blossom, and as you watch them getting bigger and stronger I want you to know that YOU are becoming a tree of righteousness, the planting of the Lord. God’s beauty for ashes!

“How beautiful…are the feet of them that bring good news” Romans 10:15 (Isaiah 52:7).

Pray these verses with me: “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to preach good tidings to the POOR; He has sent me to heal the BROKEN-HEARTED, to proclaim liberty to the CAPTIVES, and the opening of prison to those who are BOUND; to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who MOURN, to give them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they may be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified.” Isa 61:1-3

Go, be free, my friend, and sin no more. But if you find your feet dusty again, my door is always open. You come right back here and sit, and we’ll chat, and we’ll give those cares to God and let Him wash them all away again. Where two or more are gathered in His name, there He is among us.

“I have given you an example that you should do as I have done to you” John 13:15.

Come for Supper, Entertaining, Feast on This, Fun with Friends, Holidays, Mexican Fiesta, Recipes

4th of July Sopapilla Cheesecake

July 7, 2017July 7, 2017 mrshlovesjesus

Sopapilla Cheesecake is my go-to, super-fast-and-easy dessert after any Mexican dishes that I serve for supper (like “Taco Tuesday,” Taco Salad, Tamales, Chicken/Cheese/Beef Enchiladas, Chili Rellenos, Asada Street Tacos, Carnitas, Loaded Nachos, Quesadillas, etc.). This year I decided it would be a perfect Red, White, and Blue sweet ending to our Independence Day meal, because of the colors, and because I had all the ingredients in my fridge!

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F

2 (8-oz) pkgs Cream Cheese, softened (room temp)

1 cup sugar

½ tsp Mexican Vanilla (or, if you want to be fancy, you can scrape the seeds from a vanilla bean pod)

Mix together all three ingredients until smooth and thoroughly incorporated. Set aside.

2 (8-oz) tubes Pillsbury Crescent Rolls (or, you can make your own croissant dough)

¾ cup sugar

1 tsp. Cinnamon

½ cup butter, softened (room temp)

¼ cup honey (warm in microwave for about 20 seconds, after baking cheesecake)

Lightly grease a large baking pan (or small high-sided cookie sheet) with a tablespoon of the softened butter. Unroll one tube of crescent rolls and roll out to fit in the bottom of the greased baking pan/sheet, pinching the perforations together. Spread the cream cheese mixture over the dough, leaving a small edge of the dough all the way around uncovered (like a pizza). Unroll the second tube of dough and roll out to fit over the cream cheese layer. Press down slightly around the edges. Mix the sugar, cinnamon, and remaining softened butter together into a paste. Spread over the top layer of dough.

Bake in a preheated 350 degree (F) oven for about 30 minutes, until puffed and golden. Remove from oven and drizzle the entire top of the cheesecake with warmed honey.

Strawberry Blueberry Compote

(This is what gives the dessert the RED and BLUE on WHITE treatment)

¼ cup of cold water

Juice and zest of one lemon

½ cup sugar

2 Tbsp Cornstarch

1 pkg frozen strawberries

½ pkg frozen blueberries

Place water, lemon juice and zest, sugar, and cornstarch in a sauce pot on the stove. Stir to mix the ingredients and then turn heat on medium high. Add strawberries and bring to a boil, stirring until mixture is thick. Remove from heat and add blueberries. Set aside until ready to serve.

Cheesecake may be served warm or cold. My son-in-law loves it warm and gooey. I think it is delish the next morning after being refrigerated overnight, with a hot, creamy cup of coffee – like a cheese danish. Mmmmmmm…don’t you?

“The generous soul will be made rich,
And he who waters will also be watered himself.“

Proverbs 11:25 NKJV

“It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery”

Galatians 5:1

Come for Supper, Entertaining, Feast on This, Fun with Friends, Man Food, Mexican Fiesta, Recipes

South Texas Style Chili Rellenos

June 5, 2017November 14, 2020 mrshlovesjesus

The title is kind of a guffaw, actually, and the reason I grin-and-bare that is that when hubby and I first moved to south Texas, and specifically the little town that we’re in, there wasn’t a chili relleno to be had on a single menu; not in a single restaurant in our town. And when I asked for “green chili” on an omelet for the first time I was met with a puzzled look and a question, “Do you mean Tomatillo sauce?” Um, no.

Needless to say, we were terribly disappointed, and bewildered. How could this be? Is it that green chilies only migrated north and west from New Mexico and not east? Maybe they aren’t a Mexican food at all? Perhaps it was my ignorance that green chilies and Tex-Mex were synonymous? 😞

I’m happy to report that just a couple of years later Hatch green chilies started making an appearance in these parts, and when they did, they made a big appearance. There are still no Chili Rellenos on the menus in our town, but at least this girl can get the ingredients in our local grocery to make them now, and that’s really all that matters.

And in all fairness, not all of South Texas is a dry Rellenos area; we’ve had them in a few San Antonio restaurants, even though they only barely resemble the authentic Rellenos that first stole my heart.

And, please pardon if I don’t make mine like you do. This is the way I personally like them. I’m sure I would love yours, unless you make them with ground beef filling, and then I’ll have to reserve my judgement until I’ve tasted them. Husband likes the beef filled rellenos, but I dream about cheese filled rellenos and am content to eat those for the rest of my days.

I got my Ranchera Sauce recipe from a gal I stopped in the middle of HEB not long back. She works in a local restaurant, so I knew she would steer me straight, at least as much of it as I could remember as she rattled her recipe off to me in the midst of my gathering ingredients. Ha! I hope I’m making it right. It’s sure tasty, so I’m sticking with it. 😆

First we start with the Ranchera Sauce

Place a stick of butter into a heavy pan and on medium high heat begin melting. As soon as it is melted add one whole large chopped onion (white or yellow). Saute the onion until it is translucent, turn heat down to medium and continue sautéing until the onions are caramelized. This will take quite a while.

Chop 2 jalapenos (stems discarded), and about 6 large plum tomatoes into chunks. Add them to the caramelized onions and let them cook until softened. Add a 14-oz can of tomato sauce to the mixture, stir, place a lid, reduce heat to simmer, and let cook until you are ready to batter and fry the rellenos. I have had the Ranchera sauce served to me chunky several times, so I presume that is the authentic way, but I use a Braun Wand blender tool to whirl the Ranchera into a smooth sauce with no large chunks.

Now, the preparation of the green chilies…

Pick the largest, firmest ones you can find at your grocery. Bring them home and wash them, and then dry them. I like the spicy ones. You might prefer the milder ones.

I have a propane flame torch which works pretty darn slick for roasting chilies. I lay my chilies out on the rack of my outdoor patio firepit, light my torch, and run the flame up and down each chile until they are blistered and black, then I flip the chilies over with tongs and roast the other sides. Once they are all well blistered on all sides I gather them into a plastic zip bag, seal it, and let the chilies steam inside for about half an hour or so.

If you don’t have one of these nifty little propane gadgets, the oven will work just fine. Move an oven rack up to the highest level of your oven. Preheat your oven broiler. Place your washed chilies on a cookie sheet and slide them onto that top rack in the oven.

Close the oven door (I prop my door open slightly with a wooden spoon – I like to hear my chilies popping and crackling).

Let the chilies broil on one side long enough for them to become charred and blistered.

Use tongs to roll them a quarter turn and return to broiler. Check them often for doneness. Continue turning and broiling until the chilies skins are blistered and charred all the way around.

Quickly remove them from the cookie sheet and place them into a large Ziploc freezer bag, and seal it.

Allow chilies to steam inside the bag for about half an hour, while you prepare the rest of the meal.

NOTE: I like to serve my Rellenos with homemade refried beans and a cheesy green chili rice. See those recipes below. Hint: this would be a great time to start making them now. This is also a good time to blend your Ranchera sauce and make is smooth. Keep it simmering on a back burner until ready to serve.

Start about 2 inches of oil getting hot in a deep sided frying pan (…just hot enough that a droplet of water makes it pop and fizzle. Not hot enough to be smoking. If you are seeing streaks/waves in your oil, it may be too hot. Either drop your heat, or add a little more oil to cool it down a bit before adding your chilies). The pan you use should be large enough that two chilies will fit without touching the sides or each other.

As soon as the green chilies have cooled enough to handle take them to the sink and begin removing the skins. They should slide right off easily. If not, be careful not to tear the chili, as it will be hard to keep the filling inside while you are battering it.

Once the chilies are skinned, make a slight slit along the side near the top stem of each.

Only make it big enough to slide the pieces of cheese inside. If you wish to remove some of the seeds you may do that also. I push the seeds out through the slit. I don’t mind a few seeds in my rellenos though. I use Pepper-Jack Cheese. For 8 to 10 chilies you will need about 1 1/2 8-oz blocks, which I cut into quarter-inch slices and then into quarter inch strips.

Begin stuffing your chilies with strips of cheese, about 5 or so strips per chili. Dust the outsides with flour and lay them on a paper towel as you prepare them. Once all the chilies have been stuffed and floured, you are ready to make your batter.

I beat two eggs and add about a cup of water to them…

…and then I whisk in some seasoned beer batter mix (part of one bag) until the consistency is about that of thin pancake batter. The batter should stick to your chilies, but just leave a fairly thin film. Hold the chili by the stem and dip it into the batter. Use a fork to sweep batter over the top of the chili and then gently lift the chili out of the batter, with the fork. Slide it into the hot oil and let it begin frying. Add another chili and let the two fry together.

Allow the chilies to fry for a few minutes and then use tongs to turn. The batter should turn a golden color. Scoop the chilies out of the oil and place on paper towels for a moment to absorb the oil. Quickly plate them and cover them with simmering Ranchera Sauce.

Oh my how I love them!!!!! Now if I could figure out how to feed a crowd all at the same time I’d be in business. I only know how to make Rellenos for one person at a time. Hot and fresh.

Mama’s Refried Beans

If you’ve made a pot of pinto beans and have leftovers, by all means use them for this. If not, look for these varieties at your local grocery store. I used 2 cans of Charro and 1 can of Barracho (which means drunken – notice that they use Shiner beer for this).

First I drained my beans of all the liquid (don’t rinse them). I melted about 2 Tablespoons of rendered pork fat (you can use lard, or if you have leftover bacon grease that’s actually preferred) in a sauce pan on the stove, and then I added my beans. I let them just bubble and cook on medium low heat until I was almost ready to serve my meal. Moments before I was ready to serve I took a potato masher and mashed the beans until they were the desired consistence. They may be served with a sprinkle of cheddar cheese and some chopped green onion if you like.

NOTE: This also makes a wonderful bean dip, served with tortilla chips for a snack.

Cheesy Green Chili Rice

First I sautéed my rice (1 cup) in about 1/2 a stick of butter in a small sauce pot, on high heat. After about a minute of continuous stirring, I added 2 cups of hot chicken broth (water and boullion cubes work fine), 1 can of diced green chilies, and a grind of sea salt (you might hold off on this if using boullion). When the liquid boils, place a lid on the pot and turn the heat down to low. Simmer for about 20 minutes. Remove from heat. Lift the lid and lay several thin slices of pepper jack cheese (about 1/3 cup shredded) or cream cheese on top of the rice. Replace the lid and leave covered about 10 minutes or until cheese is melted. Lift lid and fluff rice with a fork, incorporating the cheese throughout. If you like it just a little creamier, you may add a splash of Crema, heavy cream, or sour cream, and a sprinkle of cayenne.

“And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts.” Acts 2:46

Entertaining, Family Reunion, Father's Day BBQ, Feast on This, Holidays, Man Food, Memorial Day BBQ, Recipes, Summer Cookout Party

Mrs. H’s Santa Fe Burger

May 30, 2017November 14, 2020 mrshlovesjesus

My husband and I discovered a little burger joint soon after moving to south Texas. It’s not a fancy place. In fact it’s kind of grimey looking on the outside. A regular person might even drive right past it and not think twice about it. It’s just a little dive of a place really, along the side of the road in Hondo, TX, but one day the old man and I cowboyed up and gave it a try … and I tell you … we absolutely fell in love with the Santa Fe burger that we ordered that first day. We love it so much it’s all we can ever think about when we drive by. We stop in regularly, on our way through town, just to indulge in its deliciousness. We love it so much we haven’t even ever tried anything else on the menu. You ever find a restaurant like that? They are real sweet about adding a few extra things to our burgers, which is what puts the Santa Fe right over the top. The next thing we know we’ve got it dripping down our arms, not saying a word, chewing as fast as we can to make our nagging tongues happy.

So, because of the couple of little extras I always ask for, I feel like its okay to give you my take on Billy Bobs lovely little sandwich of deliciousness. My version by no means replaces theirs, but it’s a nice little appetizer between trips. I’ll warn you up front that It’s a little bit of work to make, but baby it’s worth it!!!! At least in my book.

Prepare the Green Chilies

For this recipe you’ll need about two green chilies per person, so about eight should do. I pick out the biggest and most firm Anaheim (Hatch, Fresno, New Mexico) green chilies available at the market (I also grow them in my garden).

Wash them and dry them off, and then lay them out on a cookie sheet.

Raise one of the oven racks to its highest position in the oven and turn the oven on to BROIL. Allow the oven to warm up, and then put the cookie sheet of chilies in, just under the top heating element.

I usually prop a wooden spoon in the door to hold it open a tad, so I can hear the chilies popping and crackling.

I keep an eye on them, as it doesn’t take long. When I see that they are pretty popped and blistered, and burned on that top side, I open the oven, slide the rack out, and use tongs to turn the chilies a quarter of a turn, and then put them back under the heat. I continue broiling and turning until the chilies are popped and blistered, and charred on all sides.

Quickly remove the chilies from the oven with tongs and immediately place them into a plastic Ziploc freezer back. As soon as all the chilies are inside the bag, zip it up, and then let them sit and steam for several minutes, while you work on the rest of your meal.

Back in Wyoming there was a certain time in the summer when the green chile trucks would show up in parking lots around town with heaping baskets full of green chilies and a barrel-type roaster that rotated over an open fire. We could buy the amount of chilies we wanted and they would roast them, and then package them up for us to take home. I often bought large amounts of those chilies, took them home and repackaged them (about six chilies to a bag) into plastic zip bags, with their blistered skins left on, but all the air squeezed out, and put them straight into my freezer. Whenever I wanted to make something with green chilies I’d grab a bag and let it thaw for a little bit on the kitchen counter, peel the skins off in the sink, and sometimes remove the seeds and stems (depending upon what I was making), and either use them whole or chop them into pieces for whatever recipe I was doing. SOooooo many ways to use green chilies!!!!

Its unfortunate, but we don’t get those trucks in the little Texas town where I live now, and perhaps not where you live either. The BBQ grill works, but I’m not a fan of standing over a hot grill to babysit chilies on a hot south Texas day. But, in this instance, you’ll be grilling burgers out there anyways, so you may prefer just to do it all on the grill. And maybe you have a hubby who is all about the grill and happy to do them for you! Knuckle bump!!!!

UPDATE: Since first posting this blog I got myself a neat little propane weed burner torch for burning those dadgum, infernal sticker burr weeds that grow up in the lawn down here in south Texas around labor day and Valentine’s Day, and I tell you what, it works pretty darn good for that, but it works slicker than snot for roasting chilies outside on the patio firepit on a gorgeous fall afternoon.

The Beef Patties

1 (1-pound) pkg of high quality ground beef plus 1 (1-pound) pkg of ground bison

1 jalapeno, stem removed, seeds and flesh chopped finely

1/2 of a small red onion, chopped finely

1 tsp Salt Lick dry rub seasoning (this is mostly just cayenne and ground black pepper)

Sliced Pepper Jack cheese – to be placed on burgers at the end of grilling

Hamburger buns of choice (Sometimes all I can find are the regular, sesame seed buns, but when I can find a good, soft, ciabatta-type bun, I use that).

Mix together gently and form into four or five good-sized patties. Set aside while you prepare the following ingredients, and then grill the burgers over hot coals on the BBQ. Add the cheese during the last minute or so of grilling.

Toppings

Bacon (2 slices per burger), the best is the thicker sliced applewood bacon, fried crispy…

(but if I’m in a hurry and don’t have leftover bacon from breakfast, I’ll use the precooked bacon available at the grocery store and go with 3 or 4 slices per burger)

Peel the skins off the green chilies, and remove seeds and stems, but leave whole

Sliced jalapeno

Sliced red onion

Sliced heirloom tomatoes

Romaine lettuce leaves, washed and dried

Dill pickle slices

Garlic Mayonaise (mash 1 clove of garlic and mix into 2/3 cup of mayo, I often add a sprinkle of chili powder and a squeeze of lime, and sometimes some minced cilantro)

Dijon mustard

To Assemble the Burger

Some like their buns toasted

Spread some mayo over the bun halves

Squirt on some mustard

Lay a whole slice of red onion down

Place a few slices of jalapeno on top of the onion

Then a freshly cooked beef pattie with melted cheese

Layer on two Green Chilies, two slices of cooked bacon, a slice of tomato, a folded leaf of lettuce, (and a couple slices of dill pickle if desired)

Place the top of bun in place

Mash down so you can fit it in your mouth and ENJOY!!!!!

For this Memorial Day,

… I made these burgers and served them with my Jalapeno Potato Salad (from Cowboy Backyard BBQ), plus my latest favorite food: Mexican Street Corn, and sliced watermelon for dessert.

Mama’s POTATO SALAD

Ingredients

6 large red potatoes cooked until tender and cubed, skins on or off as preferred

4 hard boiled eggs, cooled and chopped

1/2 large red onion diced

3 stalks of celery chopped

2 Tbsp sweet pickle relish

1 small sprig of dill weed, chopped

1 bunch of green onions chopped

1 or 2 large jalapenos, seeds and stems removed, diced

Sauce Ingredients:

1 cups Mayonnaise (plus more or less, as you like it)

3 Tbsp red wine vinegar

1 tsp Sea Salt (plus more as desired)

2 Tbsp sugar

1 tsp ground pepper

Directions:

Put first eight ingredients in a very large bowl. Mix up sauce ingredients and pour over the ingredients in the bowl. Toss to coat. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.

Optional additions:

Add a half-cup of blue cheese crumbles and a quarter cup of crispy crumbled bacon as a garnish on top of potato salad.

Colleen’s Mexican Street Corn

8 ears fresh sweet corn (leave the husks and stems on)
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1 Tbsp Mexican crema (my grocer carries two types, a sweet cream type,which tastes like heavy whipping cream, and a sour cream kind. Both have a slightly thicker consistency than whipping cream)
1/2 cup finely crumbled cotija or Queso Fresco cheese
1/2 teaspoon chili powder (I make my own blend, see recipe below)
1 medium clove garlic, mashed and finely minced
1/4 cup finely chopped fresh cilantro leaves
4 or 5 limes, cut into wedges

I grilled my corn in the husks on the grill, turning about every 5 minutes until charred on all sides, and then I pulled the husks down over the stems (using oven mitt to protect my hands from burning) and returned the corn to the grill for a short time (about 3 minutes) to give the kernels that charred effect. What works even better though is that nifty little propane torch I told you about above. I left the husks attached for a decorative effect, but now as I look at these photos I’m thinking they might have been even cuter if I had tied something around each husk, like a piece of raffia or something, to bundle them together and anchor them to the stems, turning them into decorative “handles.” NOTE: The corn can also be shucked and “grilled” in the oven at 425 degrees F, turning about every 7 minutes or so until cooked all the way around. Once it is cooked on all sides and has some charred spots it’s time to dress it up.

While the corn is grilling, mix together the mayo (please don’t use the fat-free stuff. I know it may be healthier for you, but really, you must live a little!!! At this just this one meal in your lifetime!), crema, garlic, and add about 1/4 tsp of the chili powder. Juice and zest a couple of the limes and then add the juice and zest to the mayo mixture. Toss in about half of the crumbled cotija (Queso Fresco). Mix well and keep in fridge until ready to use. Cut the remaining limes into wedges and save for serving.

As soon as the corn is grilled, spread each cob with a generous amount of the mayo mix on all sides. Don’t be chincy. Follow with a sprinkling all around of chili powder, and then cheese crumbles. Sprinkle some cilantro on top, and a few extra sprinkles of the cheese. Serve immediately with a wedge of lime for each cob!

You’ve died and gone to heaven, right? I’m there with ya!!!!!!

Colleen’s Homemade Chili Powder

3 Ancho Chiles (dried), stemmed, seeded, and sliced
3 Cascabel/Guajillo chiles (dried), stemmed, seeded, and sliced
4 Arbol/Cayenne chiles (dried), stemmed, seeded, and sliced
2 Pasilla chiles (dried), stemmed, seeded, and sliced
2 New Mexico Red chiles (dried), stemmed, seeded, and sliced
1 Tablespoon Cumin seeds
1 Tablespoon dried Mexican Oregano
1 Tablespoon hot Paprika
Chili Pequin to taste (I sometimes crush these little guys separately and only add it to single portions, as it really brings the heat)

Place the chiles and cumin seeds in a saute pan or cast iron skillet and toast over medium heat about 3 minutes. Remove from heat and place in a glass bowl to cool completely. Once cool, place in a blender, along with the other ingredients and process until a fine powder. Allow the powder to settle for several minutes before lifting the lid. Store in an airtight container for up to 6 months. Use for making chili, to season corn, or in BBQ sauces and dry rubs.

“Prepare the table, watch in the watchtower, eat, drink: arise, ye princes, [and] anoint the shield…” Isaiah 21:5

Entertaining, Family Fun, Feast on This, Fun with Friends, School Events, Summer Activities for Kids

End-of-the-school-year OLYMPIC GAMES

May 27, 2017June 19, 2023 mrshlovesjesus

Are you looking for a clever way to close out the school year for your little group of elementary students? Are you on a tight budget, or have very few amusement options available in your town. NO WORRIES. Us too!!! Hopefully your town at least has a city park that’s kept nice, mowed and watered, or a nice, large, grassy area with lots of shade trees? That’s all that’s needed for this shindig.

There goes the school year!!!!

My sweet little grands attend a Classical Academy and I was thinking it would be great fun for them to get to close out the school year with some Olympic type games. Ones that sort of gave a nod to things the kids could “toss out” of their lives for the next few months… like pitching their alarm clocks, tossing their lunchboxes (we aren’t gonna need those for a while), and flinging their crayons at a new target – enjoying grass, lazy days, and warm sunshine, because they’ve “leaped over” their studies, and run their water bottle relays with rewarded success!

I sketched out my party plan in a notebook…

…and then went to work making the signs for the games:

….and TORCHES for each of the kids to wear (as medals)…

I printed out sheets of the torches, wrote the kids’ names on them, had them laminated, and then punched a hole at the top to string a ribbon through. On the back I printed the list of events so I could mark winners with a red sharpie, or completed with a blue sharpie.

The kids began their afternoon of fun by first having lunch delivered to them at the school (from Wendy’s, courtesy of one of the awesome parents), and after each of them had used the bathroom, they “began carrying their torches” on their little journey from the school to the park (about a 3 block walk with their teacher). When they arrived at the entrance to the park, this is the first thing they saw:

They presented their TORCHES, and then positioned behind the sign to pose for pictures. We were blessed that a very talented member of the school staff, also teacher, also photographer, and also composer of the school’s yearbook, was there to take some wonderful pictures, which she made into a full two pages of the yearbook. And one day I will scan and post them here, if she gives me permission.

BANG! Let the games begin!

The first game in our line up was the…

Lunchbox “Hammer” Throw

(The kids aren’t gonna need a lunchbox for a few months. Hip hip hooray, let’s toss it away!)

First I demonstrated to the kids what they would be doing in this game. I grabbed the lunchbox by the handles, put my left arm straight out, twirled in a counter-clockwise circle a couple of times, and then when I was facing the field, let go of the lunchbox and let it fly as far away as it would go. After the demo I handed the first kid the lunchbox and let them try. The kids lined up behind the starting line and took turns twirling and tossing the soft-sided lunchbox out into the field. (P.S. I had placed a small bag of pinto beans inside to give it some weight). The child with the farthest distance after three tosses was declared the winner!

Supplies needed: Sign, lunchbox, a couple of orange cones, a jump rope, and something to mark the farthest distance.

The next game was…

Crayola Archery

After I attempted to demonstrate this game, we decided to turn it into a Crayola Javelin Throw, since our cheapo “dollar store” bow kept breaking. The darn string kept popping out of its slot (Update: wind a rubber band tightly around the tip ends of the bow to keep the string in place. This works like a charm). Anyway, after a bit of frustration from the darn bow popping apart every time we used it, we just decided to throw the crayon like a javelin. The kids each got a turn to stand behind the line (I used a downed limb from one of the trees as the marker for this) and then take a turn hurling their javelins at the three hula hoop targets laid out in the distance. (You can barely see them in the photo below, but look close.)

This is what the arrows/javelins looked like up close. I used fat crayons and inserted them into big straws (the ones used for smoothies). They were a perfect fit, and stayed snuggly attached to each other for the whole event. At least something stayed to together!

(This is the dumb bow we used. Um, scratch that. Didn’t use!!!!)

The student with the most targets bullseyed after three tries was declared the winner!

Supplies needed: One dollar-store bow and arrow set, 1 pkg big crayons, the sign to identify the event, and three hula hoops. Oh, and something to mark the starting line.

The next game was…

Homework Fencing

You are looking at the fencing arena. Ours was marked by 4 trees as boundaries. After demonstrating to the students what they would be doing, the students lined up behind the sign and two pairs at a time faced off using the pool noodles as their fencing swords. (I got the fatest noodles I could find, to make it harder for little hands to hold onto). With one arm behind their backs they each swung their noodles at their opponent’s noodle, trying to knock it out of their hands, because homework is now out of their hands. Any body contact or face contact, or stepping outside the boundaries was considered a scratch and the offender was disqualified. Winners of each duo were collected to the side to compete in round two. Eventually a final winner was declared.

Supplies needed: The sign, four pool noodles

The next game was…

Alarm Clock Shot Put Throw

(Hey kids, say goodbye to the alarm clock for a few months!!!! In fact, let’s pitch that obnoxious contraption as far as we can throw it!)

First I demonstrated to the students how this game was played, similar to the hammer throw, and then the students were lined up behind the starting line, and took turns holding the alarm clock under their chins, twirling, and then heaving it as far as they could out into the field. (Note: I used a cheapy plastic clock from the dollar store. It broke on the first throw and left kind of a sharp edge that I cautioned the kids to be careful with. Then the glass also broke. Fail! The better choice would have been something made 100% out of non shatterable plastic and no glass).

The child who launched it the farthest distance after all of them had been given three tries was declared the winner.

Supplies needed: Sign, cones and jump rope to mark the starting line, an alarm clock, and something to mark distance.

The next game was…

Three R’s Shooting Competition

The three R’s stood for Reading, wRiting, and aRithmetic, which were featured on the three targets placed at a distance from the starting line. (Way to target your subjects this year kids)! The students lined up behind the starting line. They were instructed that one kid at a time would approach the starting line, grab a squirty bottle, aim at the first target, and begin squirting at it, moving in closer until the stream of water touched the first target, then they could move to the next target, and then the last target and do the same. Their time started when the teacher said, “GO” and they began squirting and stopped when they hit the last target. Each child took their turn. The kid with the fastest time (after three rounds) was declared the winner.

$MATH Target$

Supplies needed: A sign, three targets, and a squirty bottle filled with water.

The next game was…

Water Bottle Relay with Hurdles

(Hey kids, you’re not gonna need those water bottles for a while, AND we can celebrate that you all got over your hurdles of – Language, Art/Music/P.E., and Science this year. Way to go kids! You are all champions!!!!)

The kids lined up in two groups behind the starting line. After demonstrating to the kids how to run the course, I handed each first person in line a water bottle. At the sound of my whistle the two kids with water bottles ran down the course, leaping over the hurdles and down around the cone at the far end of the course, and returning to hand off their water bottle to their next teammate. The first team to complete the course was declared the winner.

Supplies needed: A sign, three hurdles with words attached that represent school subjects, two water bottles, a start line, an orange cone, and a whistle.

This concluded the structured games. At this point the kids were given a break to get a drink and snack and rest for a bit. Several of the parents brought coolers full of drinks (bottled water, juice, Gatorade, etc.) and snacks (Cuties oranges, goGurts, popsicles, cookies, carrots, etc.) for the kids to munch on and stay hydrated with, and they served their treats “Tailgate style” out of the back of their vehicles, parked alongside the park.

For the remainder of the afternoon the kids participated in free play. I had set up a Badminton net and blew up a giant beach ball for them to either toss over the net to each other volleyball style, or just kick around the park in a giant game of “keep away.”

In addition I brought a giant soft-sided Frisbee, bottles of bubbles for everyone, a soccer ball, the hula hoops, and gave each child a squirty bottle full of water to also play with. In addition, one of our awesome parents brought a huge cooler full of water balloons for a hot potato game.

The parents and I chilled out on blankets spread-out under the shade of a grand old oak tree, and visited with each other while the kids tear-butted around having the time of their lives. I think the kids all had as much fun, if not more, with free play as they did with the games, hey, but a theme is a theme, right? What a great afternoon and terrific group of kiddos!!!! I hardly noticed that it was 95 degrees and 50% humidity. HA!

After a couple of hours of playtime, the parents went around and gathered up the signs and parts of each game and helped pack everything up. The kids picked up all the trash and bits of broken balloons and then gathered with their teacher to walk back to school. Before they dismissed to go home each was presented a gift bag, which contained a movie theater pass (that they could use to go see Diary of a Wimpy Kid 2, which just released in theaters the week before), a pass to the local indoor inflatables park, and a gift certificate to Dairy Queen, plus a Nerf ball (which gave me the inspiration for the theme of the bags), so they could all… “Have a BALL this Summer!” 🙂

Yay kids…you finished your race well! Happy summer to you all!!!!!

“Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” Hebrews 12:1-2 NKJV

Easter Traditions & Recipes, Family Fun, Feast on This, Holidays

Easter Fun and Games

May 16, 2017April 10, 2018 mrshlovesjesus

As a sequel to Easter Traditions … I present Easter Fun and Games!

I always start the Easter celebration the night before. I have my little kiddos come just before dusk and plant “PROMISE SEEDS” all over in my yard. I usually just use jelly beans as the seeds, but this year I found this crazy perfect candy:

I give each kid several little bags of this candy, and as they “plant” it all over my back yard, I tell them the Bible story about how God wants us to sow gospel seeds (tell people about Jesus and the Easter story). When we do, some of those seeds will fall on rocky soil, some on the wayside, some among thorns and thistles, and some on good soil (Matthew 13:3-8). We talk about how those soils are heart conditions and how willing people are to hear about Jesus. If the seed falls on good soil, the Bible says we will reap a harvest. We always have to be careful with our words, because some of our words are life-giving and some kill. If we sow the wind (which would be slander and gossip), the Bible says we shall reap the whirlwind (which is the same wind returning back on us with fury and without mercy). We shall always reap what we sow.

Once they’ve planted their seeds I let them take around a watering can and water each other’s seeds. This is a good object lesson for the scripture that says, “One plants, another waters, but God gives the increase” (1 Corinthians 3:6-8).

The next day when the grandchildren arrive after church, this is what they find:

Their little promise seeds have grown into Easter eggs strewn everywhere. Eggs are a great object lesson for Easter, because just as little chicks burst forth from their eggs in the spring and leave an empty shell behind, so did Jesus burst forth from the grave, leaving it empty. Eggs are the perfect symbol to demonstrate the resurrection of Christ. (Of course grandma and grandpa transformed those eggs, and we’ll tell them this someday – but isn’t that just like what Jesus does? He transforms the seeds we sow into new souls for the kingdom).

After the kids have gathered up all the Easter eggs from the yard, we all go inside and sit down to Sunday dinner. The harvested plastic eggs have to sit and wait for us to eat before we get to see what’s in them. Perhaps that is the way it will be in heaven too? Perhaps we shall feast with our Lord first, and then we will get to go and do stuff?

* * *

Just in case you are dying to know …. this is the meal we always eat at Easter (click here: Easter Traditions). I always make plenty so we can pull out leftovers for later in the day. And I always have snacks, like chips and dip, chicken salad and rolls, a veggie tray, and something sweet.

* * *

As our meal sits steaming before us, the grandchildren say the blessing, they also sing it, and it is always precious to behold.

“Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter therein.” Mark 10:15 KJV

After Dinner … Time for FUN!

Inside each of the plastic eggs are either little slips of paper, pictures, trinkets, puzzle pieces, or other objects, and each is part of a game/activity for the kids and grown-ups to participate in. It will take up most of the afternoon for the kids to do everything.

With all of us gathered outside on the patio (a luxury of living in south Texas) we let the youngest child draw out an egg from her basket to open. Whatever her little slip of paper inside instructs her to do, she/we do. And then it is the next kid’s turn to pick an egg from their basket and do what it says to do. The kids take turns back and forth opening eggs. Sometimes the slips instruct them to do an activity alone, other times it involves all the kids, and often times it involves the whole family.

I-SPY Token Hunt

These slips of paper are actually pictures that I’ve snapped around my house and yard. The pictures are close ups of things familiar to the children, but not immediately recognizable. The children have to think about them. It’s kind of a puzzle for them to figure out.

(The week before Easter I go around with my camera and take close-up shots of various items, kid’s eye level, and then arrange them into an 8 X 10″ collage that I send to Walgreens to have printed. I then cut the pictures apart and tuck each picture into a plastic egg.)

2018 outdoor & garage images

2018 indoor images

(First collage Left to right and top to bottom: Grandpa’s mud boots, fire pit, ziggle seat, wagon, garbage can, large plastic watering can, chicken coop fence, flower pots, small medal watering can, chiminea, sandbox, rock wishing well, large rock, hollow tree branch, knot in tree, outdoor box, property marker, garden bricks, welcome mat, trail to wood lot, V in tree, new sprout leaves, tree stump in yard, tree lot. Second collage l to r, t to b: Shower, bathroom dresser brush drawer, window sill, washing machine, cat food, chair cushion, another chair cushion, ash bucket, nut basket, old record player, tiny wagon, wood stove, long curtains, book basket, moonshine jug, blanket, shower mat, treddle, window sill, fan, wine rack, bed foot board, stepping stool, pillow on bed, kid’s book)

Once the child figures out what the picture is of, they dash off to find the token that’s hidden in that location. The child then gets to use that token like Monopoly money, to buy a prize from Grandma’s secret prize bin. (*My secret prize bin is a big blue tub filled with candy, small toys, small games, cookies, coloring books, story books, stuffed animals, jewelry, hair things, etc. Mostly things from the Easter isles at the stores).

Resurrection Eggs

These come in a set of twelve plastic colored eggs, with a little story book. Each egg contains a little trinket inside that corresponds to a part of the Easter story. They sell these egg sets at Christian stores, and you can find them online.

Whenever one of these eggs is opened, I read aloud the story from the book that corresponds to the trinket.

*This year, just to change things up a bit, I substituted this book for the Resurrection Eggs. I divided it into three parts and hid three small tree-shapes in three eggs. Whenever one of these eggs was opened, I read a part of the story.

Binoculars I-Spy

The kids love to play with grandma’s binoculars, so last year I made this game knowing they would have a lot of fun with it. Inside four eggs were tiny plastic binoculars and a sticker of an object (dove, cross, empty tomb, Jesus fish). When a child got one of these, they had to use grandma’s binoculars to find the match for that object somewhere in the far reaches of the yard. I had the large-sized matching objects tacked up around the yard – a cardboard dove was tacked to a tree trunk in the far end of the yard, a Jesus cross was pinned to the fence on the far other end of the yard, a tomb cut-out was sitting on top of a big stone I have around in my front yard, and a Jesus fish was dangling from a fishing pole down by the river. If they were having a tough time finding an item I gave them a hint: Where would you find a bird? Where would you find a fish? What was rolled away from the tomb? What was the cross made out of? They had so much fun with this. Once the child spotted the object, they had to run and get it. On the backside of each was a little message that told them what their special prize was for finding it. Two of them had coupons for lunch with granny at their school that week, and the other two had coupons for an ice cream treat to keep or give away.

This year I substituted this game for the following Pencil Puzzle Secret Code game.

Pencil puzzle Secret Code

Depending upon the ages of your children these can be easy to hard secret codes, word searches, Jr. Jumble, connect the dots, etc. I printed mine out on 8 1/2 X 11″ copy paper, folded the sheets in half and in half again, and then tucked them inside objects that I hid in the yard (an old hat, a tattered glove, a disposable drinking cup, and taped to the bottom of one of my bird feeders). Four of the plastic eggs had slips of paper that directed the children to look for these objects (hat, glove, cup, and bird feeder).

The secret code puzzles that I cam up with were perfect for my 2nd grade granddaughter to figure out on her own, and when her Kindergarten sister got one, she helped her do it.

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The solved puzzles led them to special surprises hidden in four different locations. In each location I had a wrapped gift for each child (new swimsuits, new bedtime story book, giant activity books, and a stuffed animal each.

Puzzle Pieces

Last year I made two, four-piece puzzles, and placed the eight pieces in the eggs. When a child opened one of these eggs, they set the pieces aside until they found all of them, and then when all the pieces were found, they taped the pieces together to complete a picture. On the other side of the picture was a clue about the picture and what might be hidden there. (For example, one puzzle was a photograph of the rear tire of my automobile, and the clue on the back of the completed puzzle told the kids they were looking for a key for a lock in that location. Sure enough hidden behind the tire of my car was a box, with a key inside. When they wondered what the key was for, I told them the other puzzle held that clue, and indeed the other puzzle when put together showed a treasure chest at the base of a tree. The kids had to hunt to find the tree with the treasure chest, and then use the key to undo the lock to find out what was inside.

I-Pad Pictures

The kids also LOVE grandma’s I-pad. They call it “my app thing.” I have some kid’s Bible apps downloaded onto it, Netflix, and some educational games. Inside some of the plastic eggs were slips of paper that directed the kids to use the tablet camera to take pictures of specific things. For example one slip asked them to take a picture of grandma and grandpa kissing one of the children on the cheeks. Another slip asked the child to take a picture of mom and dad making silly faces at each other. Another asked the child to take a picture of all the grownups blowing bubbles. Other photo poses included: trying to do the splits in the yard, making grass angels, showing our muscles, jumping really high all at once, taking a close up of someone’s eye, and so on. These pictures are treasured keepsakes of our day, and the girls love to look through them when they come stay the night.

Silly Dares

These slips of paper instructed the kids, or often times the whole group, to do some silly task, like doing six somersaults in the yard, or patting our heads and rubbing our tummies at the same time, or breaking a confetti egg on someone’s head, or eating a cracker and trying to whistle, or singing a song in a circle with each person singing just one word of it – we did Jesus Loves Me one year, and Mary Had a Little Lamb another. Some of the other silly tasks were: doing a one-minute crazy dance in the yard, running around to the front to wave at a car passing by on the road, have a water spraying contest, having a rolling race with sister in the yard, laughing as loud as we could for 30 seconds and then all stopping suddenly, snapping our fingers as fast as we could, and so on.

Minute to Win It Games

In four of the plastic eggs were slips of paper that simply said, “Cookie Face,” “Penny Stack,” “Suck it Up,” and “Nut Stacker.” When a child got one of these we all participated. There were no prizes for these, except for the good feeling of winning. They each had to be done in under a minute.

Cookie Face: each contestant is given a cookie, which they place on their forehead, and then must move to their mouth using only their facial muscles – no hands!

Penny Stack: must stack 25 pennies, one at a time, on top of each other using only one hand.

Suck It Up: Use a smoothie straw to suck up transfer 25 Skittles from one paper plate to another. The paper plates are side by side.

Nut Stacker: place 5 nuts onto a wooden skewer, and slip the nuts off the skewer one at a time into a stack without touching them

Other Games

I also had a couple of other competition games. One was “Cup Shoot.” The kid that drew that egg picked someone to go against them. I had disposable drinking cups on strings between trees, and at the sound of the whistle they had to use a squirty bottle to move the cups along the strings from the start to the finish. Whoever won got to choose a new opponent and compete. We played until everyone was ready to quit.

Another game was to use smoothie straws to putt marshmallows across the lawn from a starting point to a finishing line. Of course, the lowest putts won.

And another game was to use one foot with a pencil between toes to draw an outline of the other foot on paper. To make it even more fun have partners face each other and draw each other’s foot with their foot.

Other game options to add next year: Rodeo games: broom pole bending, rake barrels, shovel bucking bronc… Dart throwing, around the world basketball, bean bag toss, ladder ball, tire run, hula hoop contest, could even to make an obstable course of several of these.

Here are the 2017 FREE PRINTABLE paper slips that go inside of the eggs. Just print them out and cut them apart:.

These are my 2018 paper slips:

Easter Slips — ***Click on slips images and save to your device***

Below are the pictures I took for the Guess the Picture game 2017. They are of objects around my house, so of course they wont work for you, but I thought you might like to see them to give you ideas of what you could photograph around your house. Some, you’ll notice, were indoors, some were outdoors, and some were in my garage. I got the page of them printed at Walgreens for sharp, clear, best quality.

(L to R starting at top left: shower wall, bath mat, cow rug, wood stove, ash bucket by fireplace, inside dryer, bedside table, elliptical step, houseplant, water dispenser, fire pit, truck bumper, car wheel, garbage can, mailbox, spitoon, outside rock wishing well, target pallet, big rock, outside hosebib faucet, rock pile, oak tree, fig tree, flower-pot, and chiminea).

GREAT IDEA: My neighbor shared with me a neat idea of something she did with her boys when they were young. She gave them each a basket of eggs. The eggs had slips of paper inside each that gave them chores to do (they lived in the country on a farm). When the boys went to do their chores, they found she had hidden little surprises for them at each place.

Movie Time!

After we were all done with the plastic eggs and all those little activities, we refilled our beverages and the kids had their choice of either doing crafts or watching a movie. They opted for the movie, which was nice. It gave us grown-ups a chance to relax for a bit. Let me clean up the kitchen and get a beverage. The movie choice for the kids was Lion of Judah animated movie (I’ve included the trailer below, in case you’ve never seen it).

It was my son-in-law’s childhood tradition to watch Charlton Heston’s Moses – The Ten Commandments every year at Easter, and since it is always on the TV at Easter, I think it’s a great choice! Of course there are others, like, The Passion of the Christ, Son of God, and Ben Hur.

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Crafts

Marshmallows & Toothpicks: After our movie last year, I dumped a big bag of colored miniature marshmallows and a box of toothpicks out on the dining room table and just let the kids create whatever they wanted. We made crosses, and houses, and weird little hooked together things. Ha! We got more snacks and beverages, and this kept us entertained for a good long time. This is also a great craft for large school groups.

Decorating Eggs: We pushed the marshmallows aside and pulled out the eggs. Wal-Mart had faux eggs in their Easter section that were perfect for decorating. They were white and felt just like real eggs, without being real. They even sold them by the dozen in paper egg cartons. All the egg decorating kits worked perfectly on them, and colored Sharpie markers are an awesome, non-messy alternative.

Nail Cross Necklaces: This craft was a little too difficult for the little kids to do by themselves, but their mother and I helped, and we had a lot of fun with it. Using regular construction nails and thin colored jute, we made “God’s Eye” crosses, and then attached a long string for a decoration to hang in the window or on a wall.

This is another fun craft we did, cactus and succulent terrariums, that we hung on strings in the window:

These are the things you will need to purchase for this celebration:

Large bag of Jelly Beans

2 dozen Colorful Confetti Eggs (these are colored eggs shells with confetti inside)

1 or 2 dozen faux eggs, plus some decorating kits of your choice

About 50 plastic Easter Eggs (unless you have them leftover from a previous year)

1 Resurrection Eggs kit with booklet

Prizes, approximately 25 small somethings per child (candy, toys, games, cookies, story books, stuffed animals, kid jewelry, hair clips, nail polish, lip balm, etc.) and then four bigger somethings for the grand prizes per child

Nails (one longer type and two shorter type for each cross)

Yarn or colored string/jute

colored mini marshmallows (1 or 2 large bags)

toothpicks (a couple boxes)

Bubbles for each adult

groceries for the feast

movies (if you don’t already have them)

These are the things you will probably find around the house, to use for this celebration:

An I-pad or other Tablet that can take pictures with

binoculars

tape

crackers

bubble gum

smoothie straw

Skittles or M&Ms

Paper plates

Pennies

String

drinking cups

squirty bottles

Skewers

large nuts (not the kind you eat, but the kind that go on bolts)

a tool or tackle box to use as a treasure chest

a pad lock or combination lock, and chain

And these are the things you will need to make:

Cardboard cutouts of a dove, a cross, a tomb, and a fish

I hope you have as much fun with this celebration as I and my family did.

The Lord liveth, and blessed be the Rock, and let the God of our Salvation be exhaulted!!!

Feast on This, Recipes

HayStacks for Supper

March 1, 2017July 27, 2019 mrshlovesjesus

When’s the last time you had Haystacks for supper? Why not invite the family over and serve up some fun! This recipe serves four, and is easily doubled.

You’ll need:

Taco-Chili Meat:

1 lb ground beef
1 packet Taco Seasoning
1 15-oz can Rotel Tomatoes

Fry hamburger in a deep sided frying pan on the stove top on medium high heat until cooked through. Drain off fat. Add Taco seasoning and tomatoes, plus ½ can of water. Stir, bring to a bubble and then simmer until ready to serve.

Charro Beans:

If I don’t have left-overs, I cheat and use ready made out of a can.

*If you would like to make homemade chili in place of the meat and beans, see my recipe HERE (it’s the second recipe down in the series on that page).

Rice:

1 cup rice
2 Tablespoons butter
2 cups boiling water

In a small sauce pot on high heat on the stove top, Saute rice in butter for a minute or so. Add water. Bring to a boil, turn heat down to low, cover with a tight fitting lid, and set timer for 20 minutes. I love Green Chili Rice for a change of pace! Just make rice as directed, substituting chicken broth for the water, plus a small can of green chilis.

Plus…

1 regular size bag Fritos (regular or spicy)

Shredded Mexican blend cheese

Chopped Romaine lettuce

Sliced grape tomatoes

Diced green onion

Chopped jumbo black olives

Sliced avocado (or guacamole)

Chopped Cilantro

Make a dressing of equal parts salsa and sour cream

1 jar jalapeno slices

To serve:

Place a handful of Fritos on each person’s plate

Top Fritos with Taco-Chili meat

Ladle on some warmed charro beans

Add a spoonful of rice

And then the cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, onion, black olives, avacado, cilantro, and finish with the dressing.

Garnish with jalapenos, as desired

ENJOY!!!!

1 (11-oz) pkg Butterscotch baking chips

1/4 cup crunchy peanut butter

1/4 cup dry roasted peanuts

1 (12-oz) pkg La Choy chow mein noodles

Melt butterscotch chips in the top pot of a double boiler (bottom pot should have a few inches of water and be brought to boiling), stirring constantly.

Once chips have melted, remove pan from heat and stir in peanut butter and peanuts. Add chow mein noodles and toss gently to coat them all over completely. Drop by spoonfuls onto a foil lined cookie sheet. Allow to cool and set up before serving. May be refrigerated to hasten the cooling/setting up process in warm climates.

“Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble; Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is.”
1 Corinthians 3:12-13 (KJV)

FUN and GAMES

A fun after-supper game for the kids… Make a giant straw haystack in the back yard and hide it full of plastic Easter eggs. One Easter Egg can have a slip of paper inside with a picture of a needle on it. Whoever finds “the needle in the haystack” will win a special prize. All the other eggs can have candy, or trinkets, or even puzzles to solve – or that will lead them on a treasure hunt, or dares for the finder to act out in them. The kids will have so much fun finding the needle in the haystack, solving puzzles, searching for treasure, and acting out the dares!!! And when they are done, they’ll have a blast piling the hay back into a heap and pouncing into it over and over again. Great activity for when you want to have guests with kids over. The grown ups can gather around a fire while the kids are over yonder playing in the hay!

“It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.” Mark 10:25

Did you know…

Feast on This, Recipes

Mrs H’s Mexican Street Corn

February 27, 2017July 18, 2018 mrshlovesjesus

If you’ve never had it, you are about to meet your new favorite food. You’ll be dreaming of it. In fact, as soon as fresh corn-on-the-cob starts showing up in your grocery store, I’m going to go out on a limb here and say you will probably eat corn three times a week for the first month. I’ll almost bet you’ll never want corn-on-the-cob any other way!!!!!!! I’m ruined too!!!!

8 ears fresh sweet corn (leave the husks and stems on)
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1 Tbsp Mexican crema (my grocer carries two types, a sweet cream type,which tastes like heavy whipping cream, and a sour cream kind. Both have a slightly thicker consistency than whipping cream)
1/2 cup finely crumbled cotija or Queso Fresco cheese
1/2 teaspoon chili powder (I make my own blend, see recipe below)
1 medium clove garlic, mashed and finely minced
1/4 cup finely chopped fresh cilantro leaves
4 or 5 limes, cut into wedges

I grilled my corn in the husks on the hot grill, turning about every 7 minutes until charred on all sides.

Then I pulled the husks down over the stems (using oven mitt to protect my hands from burning). I left the husks attached for a decorative effect, but now as I look at these photos I’m thinking they might have been even cuter if I had tied something around each husk, like a piece of raffia or something, to bundle them together and anchor them to the stems, turning them into decorative “handles.” NOTE: The corn can also be shucked and “grilled” in the oven at 425 degrees F, turning about every 7 minutes or so until cooked all the way around. Once it is cooked on all sides and has some charred spots it’s time to dress it up.

While the corn is grilling, mix together the mayo (please don’t use the fat-free stuff. I know it may be healthier for you, but really, you must live a little!!!), crema, garlic, and add about 1/4 tsp of the chili powder. Juice and zest a couple of the limes and then add the juice and zest to the mayo mixture. Toss in about half of the crumbled cotija (Queso Fresco). Mix well and keep in fridge until ready to use. Cut the remaining limes into wedges and save for serving.

You’ve died and gone to heaven, right? I’m right there with ya!!!!!!

NOTE: I’ve also mixed up the mayo sauce with all the ingredients and let my guests spread it on their corn themselves. It’s not as pretty this way, but it tastes the same. You can even cut the corn off the cobs (about 8 large ones) and mix the sauce with it to make Corn-in-a-Cup, another favorite street food of south Texas. I used about a cup of mayo, a little less than a tablespoon of homemade chili powder, the juice of two limes, a clove of garlic minced, 1/3 cup minced cilantro, 1/2 cup crumbled cojita cheese, and half a teaspoon of salt. If you’d like it a little creamier, add some Crema. To make it pretty, garnish the corn cups with a little more crumbled cojita cheese on top and sprinkle with some minced cilantro. Sooooooo good!!!

Colleen’s Homemade Chili Powder

3 Ancho Chiles (dried), stemmed, seeded, and sliced
3 Cascabel/Guajillo chiles (dried), stemmed, seeded, and sliced
4 Arbol/Cayenne chiles (dried), stemmed, seeded, and sliced
2 Pasilla chiles (dried), stemmed, seeded, and sliced
2 New Mexico Red chiles (dried), stemmed, seeded, and sliced
1 Tablespoon Cumin seeds
1 Tablespoon dried Mexican Oregano
1 Tablespoon hot Paprika

“And it came to pass on a second solemn Sabbath, that He went through the corn fields, and His disciples plucked the ears of corn, and did eat, and rubbed them in their hands.” Luke 6:1 (Geneva Bible)

Feast on This, Recipes

Colleen’s Chicken Salad (for sandwiches)

February 27, 2017June 22, 2017 mrshlovesjesus

(((Serves a crowd)))

6 chicken breasts, organic skinless and boneless (or 2 fully cooked deli rotisserie chickens, skinned and deboned)

1 cup diced celery

½ red bell pepper, diced

1 large jalapeno, diced (seeds and stems removed)

1 small white onion, minced (or half of a larger size white onion)

2 green table onions, washed and chopped

1 ½ cups quartered red grapes

1 20-oz can crushed pineapple, drained

2 small gala apples, very thinly sliced

2/3 cup chopped pecans

Salt and Pepper to taste

Mayonnaise

Romaine lettuce leaves, washed and dried

Raisin bread, sliced, OR … fresh deli croissants

Place chicken breasts in a large pot, cover with water, season to taste with salt & pepper (I sometimes toss in a lemon and an orange if I have them, cut in half), and bring to a boil on the stove. Boil for 15 to 20 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked through. Test by removing the largest piece and cutting it in half.

Meanwhile chop the celery, bell pepper, jalapeno, onions, grapes, and apples and set aside.

When the chicken has cooked and cooled, cut it into very small chunks and place in a large mixing bowl. Add the chopped ingredients (minus the apple), the crushed pineapple, pecans, and season with a little salt and pepper. Add enough mayo to moisten as desired and toss with chicken until all ingredients are incorporated. I usually start with a cup of mayo, and then add more as I mix until it has the creamy texture I want. Taste it to make sure it is yummy. Add more salt and pepper if desired. Cover with plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for a couple of hours.

To assemble sandwiches, slice raisin bread to desired thickness, toast if desired. Or, if using croissants, slice them in half. Spread a thin layer of mayo over both top and bottom slices. Next, lay a leaf of lettuce on the bottom slices. Arrange a few apple slices on top of the lettuce, and then top the apples with a heaping serving spoon of chicken salad and press it down to spread it to the edges of the bread. Carefully lay the top slice of bread on top. Slice each sandwich in half, if desired.

Serve with a raw veggie medley (carrot, celery, cucumber slices), or seasoned cottage cheese, or an assortment of cheeses, or your favorite chips (personally I am a Sun Chips kind of gal)…plus a nice iced Chai latte to wash it all down with! Mmm..mmm..mmm!!

“For every creature of God is good, and nothing is to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving; For it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer.”

1 Timothy 4:4-5

Bible Study, Devotional, Feast on This

Barabbas

January 4, 2017June 23, 2018 mrshlovesjesus

Have you ever thought about the man Pilate brought out before the people? The criminal case that was … dismissed!

A man who was guilty in the courtroom of heaven, but dismissed by man, and a man who was innocent in the courtroom of heaven, condemned by man.

Matthew 27:16-26 NKJV

16 And at that time they had a notorious prisoner called Barabbas.

17Therefore, when they had gathered together, Pilate said to them, “Whom do you want me to release to you? Barabbas, or Jesus who is called Christ?”

18For he knew that they had handed Him over because of envy.

19 While he was sitting on the judgment seat, his wife sent to him, saying, “Have nothing to do with that just Man, for I have suffered many things today in a dream because of Him.”

20 But the chief priests and elders persuaded the multitudes that they should ask for Barabbas and destroy Jesus.

21 The governor answered and said to them, “Which of the two do you want me to release to you?” They said, “Barabbas!”

22 Pilate said to them, “What then shall I do with Jesus who is called Christ?” They all said to him, “Let Him be crucified!”

23 Then the governor said, “Why, what evil has He done?” But they cried out all the more, saying, “Let Him be crucified!”

24 When Pilate saw that he could not prevail at all, but rather that a tumult was rising, he took water and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, “I am innocent of the blood of this just Person. You see to it.”

25 And all the people answered and said, “His blood be on us and on our children.”

26 Then he released Barabbas to them; and when he had scourged Jesus, he delivered Him to be crucified.

7 And there was one named Barabbas, who was chained with his fellow rebels; they had committed murder in the rebellion.

8 Then the multitude, crying aloud, began to ask him to do just as he had always done for them.

9But Pilate answered them, saying, “Do you want me to release to you the King of the Jews?”

10 For he knew that the chief priests had handed Him over because of envy.

11 But the chief priests stirred up the crowd, so that he should rather release Barabbas to them.

12 Pilate answered and said to them again, “What then do you want me to do with Him whom you call the King of the Jews?”

13 So they cried out again, “Crucify Him!”

14 Then Pilate said to them, “Why, what evil has He done?” But they cried out all the more, “Crucify Him!”

15 So Pilate, wanting to gratify the crowd, released Barabbas to them; and he delivered Jesus, after he had scourged Him, to be crucified.

13 Then Pilate, when he had called together the chief priests, the rulers, and the people,

14 said to them, “You have brought this Man to me, as one who misleads the people. And indeed, having examined Him in your presence, I have found no fault in this Man concerning those things of which you accuse Him

18 And they all cried out at once, saying, “Away with this Man, and release to us Barabbas”–

19 who had been thrown into prison for a certain rebellion made in the city, and for murder

20 Pilate, therefore, wishing to release Jesus, again called out to them.

21 But they shouted, saying, “Crucify Him, crucify Him!

22 Then he said to them the third time, “Why, what evil has He done? I have found no reason for death in Him. I will therefore chastise Him and let Him go.”

23 But they were insistent, demanding with loud voices that He be crucified. And the voices of these men and of the chief priests prevailed.

24 So Pilate gave sentence that it should be as they requested.

25 And he released to them the one they requested, who for rebellion and murder had been thrown into prison; but he delivered Jesus to their will.

39 “But you have a custom that I should release someone to you at the Passover. Do you therefore want me to release to you the King of the Jews?”

40 Then they all cried again, saying, “Not this Man, but Barabbas!” Now Barabbas was a robber.

John adds that Barabbas was a “robber.” It is the first time robbery is attached to Barabbas. Now to give Barabbas the benefit of the doubt here, I imagine he could be a completely unsavory scoundrel, or he could also be a hero – of the order of Robin Hood, prince of thieves. Did he steal from the people for his own benefit, or from the government for the benefit of the poor? Did someone end up dead as collateral damage? I guess we’ll never know. But here is an interesting note on some commentary I found for Mark 15:7…

[Barabbas.] Let us mention also with him a very famous rogue in the *Talmudists, Ben Dinai, whose name also was Eleazar. Of whom they have this passage worthy of chronological observation; “From the time that murderers were multiplied, the beheading the red cow ceased; namely, from the time that Eleazar Ben Dinai came; who was also called Techinnah Ben Perishah: but again they called him, The son of a murderer.” Of him mention is made elsewhere, where it is written Ben Donai. See also Ben Nezer, the king of the robbers.

(*THE TALMUD was the body of Jewish civil and ceremonial law and legend which comprised the Mishnah and the Gemara. There are two versions of the Talmud: the Babylonian Talmud – which dates from the 5th century AD but includes earlier material, and the earlier Palestinian or Jerusalem Talmud).

So, Luke (vs.19) and Mark (vs.7) could be identifying Barabbas with this group. Perhaps Barabbas was Ben Dinai, or a disciple, or a member of his band? If so, what a crazy time for Jesus to come upon the scene, in the middle of a revolution.

So, over here, on this side of the stage, in this corner of the ring, is a man who has caused a rebellious uprising, is a notorious prisoner, is a murderer, and misled the people: Barabbas, of “THE ROBBERS!”

And over there in the other corner is a man who sought out the poor, the maimed, the blind, and the lame, healed their sickness and disease, and brought the dead back to life, Jesus, the “KING OF THE JEWS.”

Because of the jealousy of the religious leaders and the chivalry of the Roman government, the people were forced to choose, and it struck me like a bolt of lightning when it first dawned on me that Barabbas’ name means, “father’s son” (Bar = son + abba = father – Strongs #912 in the Greek dictionary, or #1347 in Chaldean with #5 in Aramaic – the mixed dialog of Palestine). An earthly man of an earthly father, who had only done terrible things to the people.

And Jesus, who was in the beginning with God, and became a Son of the heavenly Father. Abba being the name Jesus used for His Father in the garden prayer (Mark 14:36) before He went to the cross. A Son of the heavenly Father, who had only done good things for the people.

Barabbas (a father’s son)

A “rebel” who “along with his gang of rebels, led a rebellion
“One who misleads the people” (a liar, basically)
One who “committed murder”
“A robber”

And his parallel character…

Satan (son of perdition)

A rebel: “And war broke out in heaven: Michael and his angels fought with the dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought, but they did not prevail, nor was a place found for them in heaven any longer. So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him” (Revelation 12:7-9). “His tail drew a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth” (Revelation 12:4).
A liar: “Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, “Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?”… Then the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die.” (Genesis 3:1,4)
A murderer: “…the devil… was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it.” John 8:44
A robber: “The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.” John 10:10

I believe both persons come together as an analogy (or a sort-of parable) of the very choice that has been thrust upon humanity from the beginning of time.

Satan is a wolf in sheep’s clothing – an imposter (anti-christ). A son of iniquity. Always on the prowl, seeking whom he may devour. An accuser of the brethren who accuses us before the Father day and night, who first gets us to sin (lie, cheat, steal, drink, do drugs, beat people up, kill, sleep around, gossip, gamble, etc.) and then runs to rat us out to God as soon as we eat the forbidden fruit he tempted us with. He most defiantly misleads the people.

Satan appeared to Eve in the garden on that fateful day in Genesis, and cleverly convinced her to trust him over God. The next day was a dark day indeed for Adam and Eve, and all humanity with them. I imagine the fear and uncertainty and remorse they must have felt in their hearts as they looked back to a garden, guarded by angels, that they could never go back to. The punishment was swift… but a Messiah was coming.

In much the same way, how dark was the day after Jesus died, when that scoundrel Barabbas was loose and free to terrorize the people again, and they realized they’d been lied to and misled? Fear and dread must have hung thick in their souls. The sun was darkened. The earth quaked. But Sunday was coming!!!!!

Up from the grave He arose!

The good news is Barabbas eventually died, and Jesus lives!!!! The Light of the world (John 8:12) dawned out of a dark tomb and over the people for 40 days, and even though the scoundrel Satan, who has never done anything good for humanity, is loosed for a time, because humans keep choosing him, the good news is Jesus is coming again in even greater glory!!!! And Satan dies!!!!!

What a contrast in characters. One is a taker of life. The other, a SON who laid down His life. One tempts us to sin, and the other a SON who takes away our sins and the sins of the world. An insurrectionist against an intercessionist.

Jesus changed the course of history when He came, and the thing is, He knew what He was walking into, and that very few would choose Him, and that a very vocal majority would not choose Him, then or now. He forgave them (us) anyway, and asked God to forgive them (us) for they (we) knew not what they were doing.

Those jealous leaders of Jesus’ day, with their inflated egos, didn’t know at the time, but they didn’t take Jesus’ life, He laid His life down freely of His own accord. The truth was hidden from all of them at the time, almost like a parable (1 Corinthians 2:6-16). Let it not be hidden from you. Had the crowd NOT chosen Barabbas that day, Jesus would not have been the “Scapegoat,” the “Passover Lamb” that He came here to be. That we all needed Him to be.

It was Barabbas who deserved to be punished that day, but Jesus took his place. We are all sons and daughters of a Holy God/Creator, whose sins deserve punishment, but our Omnipotent Father provided a way of escape – a pardon.

On His last night, the Son, Jesus went into the Garden of Gethsemane, and fell on the ground, and prayed, “Abba, Father (Father of fathers), all things are possible for You. Take this cup away from Me; nevertheless, not what I will, but what You will.” Mark 14:36

~ Free Will or God’s Will? ~

This is the choice we have to make every moment of every day of our lives. In the beginning God gave us all free will, even when He knew His creation wouldn’t choose Him. And Satan has had a field day with the free will thing. (Click here for an informative article about God’s will, with a free printable of scripture cards). God the Father sent His Son Jesus onto that tragical scene 2000 years ago to give us the tools to defeat Satan – that criminal that stands on the stage of our lives opposite Jesus.

a son or The Son?

Satan came to party hardy and trash our house (mind/body/soul). Jesus came to sweep our houses clean and put them in order…

“When an unclean spirit goes out of a man, he goes through dry places, seeking rest, and finds none. Then he says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ And when he comes, he finds it empty, swept, and put in order. Then he goes and takes with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter and dwell there; and the last state of that man is worse than the first. So shall it also be with this wicked generation.” Matthew 12:43-45; Luke 11:24-26

“It would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness than to have known it and turned away from the holy commandment passed on to them. But it is happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire.” 2 Peter 2:21, 22

Apart from God we can do nothing!

“Keep watching and praying that you may not enter into temptation; the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” (Matthew 26:41)

“Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.” (2 Corinthians 3:17)

“Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send Him unto you.” John 16:7

“And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost:” John 20:22

(He swept their houses clean and put them in order.)

“And being assembled together with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father, “which,” He said, “you have heard from Me; for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” (Acts 1:4,5) “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come on you, and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” (Acts 1:8) “When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.” (Acts 2:1-4)

“Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me away from Your presence, And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, And uphold me by Your generous Spirit.” Psalm 51:10-12

“Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God; praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints—” Ephesians 6:10-18

Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is. Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Ephesians 5:15-20

“For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, Abba, Father (Father of fathers). The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs – heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.” Romans 8:14-17

“But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, Abba, Father (Father of fathers)! Therefore you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.” Galatians 4: 4-7

“And call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven.” Matthew 23:9

In other words: Do not exalt any human being on earth to the place of God in your heart. Warning! They will let you down. They are imperfect.

“Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live?” Hebrews 12:9

We live in a crazy mixed up time when so many fathers are absent from the home and the lives of their children. Either they are work-a-holics trying to put food on the table, or they are deadbeats who don’t want any responsibility. God intended earthly fathers to be a picture of our heavenly father; that we as children would feel their sacrificial love, experience their protection, and in return have great honor and respect for them. That’s why God hates divorce, sex outside of marriage, and alternative lifestyles. The design on earth is supposed to be a copy and shadow of heaven. Can you guess who messed it all up? Someone less than a true father, I assure you! John the Baptist prepared the way for Jesus, in the spirit of Elijah- Luke 1:17, by turning the hearts of the fathers to their children. My prayer is that the same spirit of Elijah will come and do it again! And may our hearts be turned to our heavenly Father again!!!! In Jesus’ name.

“Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not.” 1 John 3:1

Because of Jesus, we can receive a spirit of adoption by which we cry out, “Abba! Father!” (Romans 8:15). Because THE SON made us sons, God sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying out, “Abba, Father!” (Galatians 4:6).

easter-cross — For the free printable coloring page click >>> Easter-cross

I hope that if you are feeling lonely, abandoned, heavy, guilty, burdened with sins, the weight of which keeps you from choosing Jesus, that you will know that you’ve not dug a hole for yourself too deep and too wide that God cannot or will not reach down into and pull you up out of. God the father sent His Son to that cross for YOU! To set you free. He paid the penalty for your sin. By His blood your criminal case with God can be hereby … DISMISSED! Just like the thief on the cross, the friend of Barabbas. The world may judge you guilty, but Jesus died for you, and paradise is waiting.

Jesus is a friend who sticks closer than a brother (Proverbs 18:24). Jesus said, “And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.” (John 12:32)

May I pray for you?

Lord I am a sinner. I’ve dug a deep pit for myself. I am a fool to be pittied. I’ve made just about every bad choice a person can make. I’ve been deceived. But Lord, today I choose YOU!!!!! Lord, set me free. Come and sweep my house and put it in order, and then fill me with Your Holy Spirit. Kick the devil out of my life and seal up every crack and crevasse where he might seek to re-enter. Set my feet upon solid rock and protect me from the storms my enemy brings against me. When Satan comes in like a flood, may You raise up a standard against him. May the plans of the enemy be exposed and may the fate he plans for me personally be his own demise, just like Haman in the Bible. Set Your hedge around me O Lord. Encompass me with safe boundaries. Expand my territory so that the gates of hell may not prevail. Renew my mind. Give me strength. And when my accuser comes to you asking to sift me as wheat, because I fell in a moment of weekness, Lord may the answer be NO! Let me not make excuses for the trespasses I’ve committed, but be forgiven of my sins, and cleansed from all unrighteousness. May the curses be broken. Help me not to pay forward the sins of my past, but let your kindness be in me. Bless me and my family that we may bless others. Give me eyes to see and hearts to feel compassion, and hands overflowing with generosity for those in need. Suit me up in the Spiritual Armor. Comfort me with the peace that passes understanding. Fill me with wisdom and knowledge from Your word to light my path and be a beacon of hope for others. All glory and honor to You. In Jesus’ Name. Amen

“And if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” Joshua 24:15

Taste and see that the Lord is good!

Come for Supper, Feast on This, Recipes

Soup’s On!

December 20, 2016October 1, 2017 mrshlovesjesus

In this post are my recipes for…

Green Chili
Red Chili
Chicken Tortilla Soup
Creamy Poblano Soup
Farmhouse Potato with bacon and jalapeno
White Bean, Andouille, and Kale Soup
Zuppa Tuscano
Nacho Cheese Soup
Clam Chowder in a bread Boule

It’s that time of year when a bowl of steaming hot soup with a side of hot, fresh baked, heavily buttered, crusty bread not only warms the body, but the heart and soul as well. I have been asked soooo many times for these soup recipes that I decided to make a place for them here.

My husband says it is impossible for me to make a small batch of anything. Tis true I suppose. So, if you find yourself with more soup than you can eat, please wrap some up and take it to a neighbor, or share it with friends in the office, or bring a bowl to your child’s teacher, for lunch on a blustery winter day!

Mom’s Green Chili

…First we have to make the roast!…

1 8-lb Boston Butt Pork Roast, patted dry and rubbed all over with this dry rub:

1 heaping Tablespoon Chili Powder

1 heaping Tablespoon dried Cumin

1 heaping Tablespoon smoked hot Paprika (Pimenton Picante)

1 teaspoon cinnamon

3 Tablespoons brown sugar

1 teaspoon Kosher or sea salt

1 teaspoon freshly ground pepper mélange

Place roast on grate in roasting pan, cover with foil, and put into a preheated 350°F oven for about an hour. After an hour, turn the oven temp down to 225°F leave roast in oven to finish baking until meat is falling off the bone, approximately 3 to 6 hours. I actually leave mine in all day (6 to 8 hours) tightly covered.

I usually always make my green chili from this leftover roast. After the roast has cooled I pull it apart into large chunks (this is a very fatty roast, and I discard all the fat and bone), wrap the meat up in a freezer zip-bag and either put it in the fridge for the next day, or in the freezer, to make my next batch of Green Chili (recipe follows).

Mom’s Spicy Red Chili

3 lbs ground beef (I sometimes switch out one pound with ground bison, or you could use venison)
1 large onion, chopped
3 (14-oz) cans diced fire roasted tomatoes (reduced or NO sodium)
3 (14-oz) cans of low-sodium chicken broth (I use the empty tomatoes can to measure my broth from a larger carton)
3 (14-oz) cans of low-sodium beef stock (again, I use my empty tomatoes can to measure my stock from a larger carton)
9 Tbsp of chili powder (added at different intervals) (I make my own; it’s sooooo much better than anything you can buy at the market – see recipe below)
3 Tbsp of yellow corn meal or fine masa flour (used to make tamales)
2 large cloves of garlic, mashed and minced

In a large, high-sided frying pan, or dutch oven, fry burger meat on medium high heat until cooked through. Remove from heat. Drain off excess fat. Return dutch oven to medium high heat and add onion to the ground meat. Stir and cook together a few minutes. Dump in the tomatoes, chicken and beef stocks, garlic, 6 spoonsful of the chili powder, and then the corn meal. Bring to a boil, then lower heat to a simmer. Cover and let cook for 1 hour.

Remove lid, stir, and add 2-3 more spoonsful of chili powder. Taste for seasoning. If a soupier chili is desired, add a tomato can full of water. If you want a thicker chili, stir in a tablespoon or two more of masa. Stir, replace lid and let cook another 30 minutes. Taste to make sure it is yummy before serving. Add a can or two of drained rinsed beans if desired. I like to add 1 (14-oz) can of pintos and 1 (14-oz) can of red beans.

Serve with crackers (I have to spread real butter on mine) or cornbread (I usually always make a Mexican style cornbread – I use a honey cornbread mix and add shredded cheese, diced onion, and diced jalapeno to the mix). Chili may be served with any of the following toppings: crushed tortilla chips, shredded cheddar or pepper jack cheese, chopped red or green onions, diced jalapenos, a dallop of sour cream, etc. This recipe makes a lot, but you can use the leftovers to make Frito Pies, Chili-cheese Dogs, and Hay Stacks.

Colleen’s Homemade Chili Powder

3 Ancho Chiles (dried), stemmed, seeded, and torn into small pieces
3 Cascabel/Guajillo chiles (dried), stemmed, seeded, and torn
4 Arbol/Cayenne chiles (dried), stemmed, seeded, and torn
2 Pasilla chiles (dried), stemmed, seeded, and torn
2 New Mexico Red chiles (dried), stemmed, seeded, and torn
1 Tablespoon Cumin seeds
1 Tablespoon dried Mexican Oregano
1 Tablespoon hot Paprika
Chili Pequin (I crush about 10 of these little guys seperately and only add it when I can really bring the heat – and otherwise it can be added to individual bowls)

Place the chiles and cumin seeds in a saute pan or cast iron skillet and toast over medium heat about 3 minutes. Remove from heat and place in a glass bowl to cool completely. Once cool, place in a blender (my Bullet is perfect), along with the other ingredients and process until a fine powder. Allow the powder to settle for several minutes before lifting the lid. Store in an airtight container for up to 6 months. Use for making chili, to season Mexican Street Corn, or as an ingredient in BBQ sauces and dry rubs.

Mom’s Chicken Tortilla Soup (mildly spicy)

Mom’s Creamy Poblano Soup (spicy)

Let me start with my prep work on this one. First, I grow my own Poblano Chilies in my garden, and in the fall/early winter when the weather calls for frost I harvest everything and hurry and preserve it, either by drying or freezing.

After (1) picking my Poblanos and (2) washing them, I (3) roast them in the oven until the skins are charred and bubbled all the way around, then I (4) seal them in plastic bags and let them sit until I am done with all my roasting. Finally I (5) put on a pair of latex gloves and begin sliding the skins off, pulling the stems out, and wiping all the seeds from the insides.

Then I fold each chili in half and tuck them inside a freezer zip-bag, about 15 chilies to a bag, squeeze all the air out, zip the bags closed, fold the bags over, and tuck about three bags of the chilies into another zip-bag. Then I stash these bags in my freezer for soup all winter long (or until they run out).

Recipe:

8 cups Chicken Broth (I’m kind of an organic girl, so if I can’t find organic broth I usually make my own)

2 large Yukon gold potatoes, diced

2 large onions, diced

Kernels from 6 cobs of sweet corn

1 tsp. salt, plus more to taste

1 stick of butter

4 cloves of garlic

¼ cup fresh parsley

Bring broth to a boil and add all the ingredients after that. Cook until tender. Add:

15 processed Poblano Chilies (as described above)

Whirl contents of the soup pot in a blender until smooth, then return to the soup pot and add:

6 cups Heavy Cream (or 3 cups heavy cream and 3 cups Half-and-half)

Let this simmer on the stove until ready to serve. When ready to serve, ladle soup into bowls and garnish with shredded Pepper Jack cheese.

Mom’s Creamy Farmhouse Potato Soup, with Bacon and Jalapenos

12 medium potatoes (I actually prefer russets for this soup, plus they keep better so I usually have them on hand), peeled and cut into bite-size chunks

1 large white onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

4 ribs of celery, chopped

2 to 3 Jalapenos, finely minced (if your jalapenos are mild, use more, if spicy use less, to taste)

1 large (48-oz) container of chicken broth

2 small or 1 large can of Cream of Chicken soup (I prefer Campbells)

1 stick of butter

2 cups of whole milk

1 8-oz package Cream Cheese, at room temp

Salt & Pepper to taste

Fry bacon either while soup cooks, or before starting the soup. Lay on paper towels, and set aside. Place potatoes, onion, garlic, celery, and jalapenos in a large soup pot. Add the chicken broth and enough water to cover the potatoes about one inch over. Cover and bring to a boil. Turn heat down to a simmer and cook until potatoes are tender, about 10 minutes depending on the size of the chunks. Add all of the remaining ingredients and stir until blended and cream cheese is melted and fully incorporated. Taste, and add salt and pepper to taste. Bring to a steaming simmer, stirring occasionally so the bottom of the soup doesn’t stick and burn. Ladle into bowls and garnish just before serving! Make the garnish pretty by first adding a dollop of sour cream to the center, then sprinkle with crumbled bacon, shredded cheese, and chopped green onion (and pass the diced jalapeno for those who want a little more heat). Bon appetite!

Garnishes:

Sour cream

½ lb crispy fried bacon

Shredded Cheddar Cheese

1 bunch green onions, chopped

Fresh chopped Parsley

2 large jalapenos, minced

Mom’s Spicy White Bean, Andouille, and Kale Soup

This is one of those soups that I make for my daughter. She and I LOVE this soup, especially on a cold winter day (when we can lounge in our jammies and eat and watch a marathon of something on TV). My crazy husband is not a fan of Kale, or really anything green-leafy and floating in his soup, so this is a special treat for when he is out-of-town and the girls and I can have a girl’s night!

1 pkg Andouille sausage (if you can find the semi-hard Chorizo, that works too, or even a jalapeno smoked sausage), cut into bite-size pieces

2 large Yukon Gold potatoes, cut into small chunks

½ white onion, chopped

5 garlic cloves, minced

1 finely minced Poblano chile

4 cups Chicken broth

1 14.5-oz can fire-roasted tomatoes

1 bunch of kale (fresh, raw, and washed well, stems chopped off and discarded), torn roughly into bite-size pieces – I love Kale, so for me moooore is better!!!!

1 14-oz can Cannellini beans, drained and washed (Garbanzo’s will also work)

Salt and Pepper to taste

Fry the sausage in a heavy soup pot until crispy on the edges. Toss in the potatoes, onions, garlic, and poblano. Saute for a few moments and then add the chicken broth and tomatoes. Simmer for about 20 minutes, and then add the kale. Taste it and add salt to taste. Grind some pepper also to taste. Simmer another 20 minutes and add the beans. Allow them to heat through. When steaming hot, serve with warm, crusty bread slathered in fresh, creamery butter. Oh Lord, I’ve died and gone to heaven!!!!

Mom’s Zuppa Tuscano (spicy)

I found this recipe online, published by Big Oven, and tweaked it to make it my own.

1 lb Italian sausage (my grocery meat dept. has parmesan and something else Italian meatballs that I brown and chop up, plus the Italian sausage in casings – which I remove from the casings, brown and break up)

1 tsp red pepper flakes; (I grow all sorts of hot peppers in my garden– Hungarian paprika, cayenne, poblano, serrano, jalapeno, thai hots, habanero, etc. – and dry them and grind them into powder. This is what I use in my soup.)

3 large russet potatoes, cut into chunks

1 large onion, diced

1 lb. bacon, chopped (I cook mine crispy the day before, wrap it in paper towel, and place in a plastic bag in the fridge. Unlike Big Oven, I don’t add it to the soup until after I’ve added the kale and cream)

4 garlic cloves; minced (I use the biggest outside ones)

3 cups kale, chopped (I’m sorry, I really never measure this, I just add until it looks good, probably more than 3 cups because I LOVE Kale). Remove the tough ribs and tear the leaves roughly. Rinse really well.

2 boxes (32 oz ea) chicken broth

2 cups water

1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream

Liberal sprinkling of white pepper

(I add about a ¼ tsp of my *special chili pequin and pepper mélange seasoning also)

Original recipe makes 10 Servings. Cook Bacon ahead of time and have ready. Sauté Italian sausage and crushed red pepper in a pot. Drain excess fat, remove sausage and set aside. In the same pan, sauté onions and garlic (I cooked mine in a little butter). Sauté for approximately 5 mins. or until the onions are soft. Add the chicken stock and water. Bring to a boil. Add potatoes and cook until soft, about 15-20 minutes. Add kale during the last 5 minutes. Add heavy cream and the cooked sausage and cook until heated through. Add white pepper to taste.

If you want the soup a little thicker, you can make a blonde roux in a separate pan and incorporate it into the soup. I make my own *spice mixture of ground pepper mélange, ground chili pequin, and kosher salt and I sprinkle my portion with it just before serving. I also add some to the soup, but careful not to overload, it in case some folks were sensitive to the spice. The soup is especially good when served with warm, buttered crusty bread!

Mom’s Spicy Nacho Cheese Soup

1 gallon can of Nacho (or Cheddar) Cheese

2 cups Chicken broth

4 cups water

1 Poblano chili, diced

6 ribs of celery, diced

2 cups of ham, diced

1 small white onion, minced

Place all ingredients in a large crockpot, cover and cook on high for 2 to 3 hours, or until celery and onion are tender and soup is piping hot. Great served with Panini sandwiches!

Serving Suggestion:

Thin sliced Italian Bread, brushed with olive oil on one side

Fillings:

Mozzarella

Provolone

Heirloom Tomatoes

Prosciutto

Pepperoni

Fresh basil

Roasted red peppers

Portabella mushrooms

Spinach

Arugula

And whatever else makes your tongue dance

Put your sandwiches together, olive oiled sides out, and then grill in a Panini press. I don’t personally own a Panini press, but the George Foreman grill works pretty well if you clamp it down.

Colleen’s Clam Chowder

bread-boule-clam-chowder — *Colleen’s Clam Chowder, served in a fresh sour dough bread boule from the bakery! Toast the lid and drizzle it with garlic butter for an added treat!*

May our soup bowls be deep and our friends plentious!!!!

“And one day Jacob was cooking some soup when Esau came in from the fields in great need of food” Genesis 25:29

Come for Supper, Entertaining, Family Fun, Feast on This, Fun with Friends, Recipes

Come for Supper – Asian Hot Pot Party

December 18, 2016January 27, 2018 mrshlovesjesus

This party was originally featured in my book, “Come for Supper? the memoirs of a reluctant hostess“ (now out of print).

It is one of my kids’ very favorite parties I ever threw while they were still living at home. It is also one of the favorites of my cooking club group, who helped me test some of the recipes in the book.

It’s like an “Asian fondue” party! Everyone cooks their own food — which is a reluctant hostess’s dream party, right? All you have to do is collect some equipment, do some grocery shopping, do a little slicing, dicing, and chopping, mix up some sauces, set up tables, toss a CD in the player, and decorate. Voila! (– or however they say it in Chinese).

So now, imagine yourself invited to my house for Chinese…

You come knocking on my door and can hear music from the Orient playing faintly, and you can also smell what smells like dinner cooking (in reality it’s just chicken broth and hot peanut oil). You’re dressed in your best Asian get-up (complete with a coolie douli hat, because that’s what I asked you to in the invitation) and as you ring my doorbell, are excited for me to turn that knob and invite you inside. When I do, you find me decked out in a green t-shirt with Chinese scribbles across it, my hair tied up with chopsticks, and wearing flip-flop house slippers on my feet. Inside the house there are paper umbrellas hanging upside down from the ceiling over the lights, and little paper lanterns strung about. Some little Chinese fans scattered on the tables and around. Vases of bamboo set around as gifts for guests to take home after the party.

Some of my other guests have already arrived and are wearing red silk dresses, tank tops with black leggings, and one is wearing a white Gi, tied with a yellow (beginner’s) belt. There is laughing and mingling as everyone crowds into the kitchen to pour themselves a drink. Your options are hot Green, Oolong, or Jasmine tea, Bubble Tea, a shot of sake, or a cold imported Chinese Tsingtao beer.

The music that is playing sounds a little bit like a Chinese version of Manheim Steamroller, so you ask, “What is this playing?” and I answer, “It’s Twelve Girls Band!” Hmmm…nice choice, right? My daughter turned me on to them.

And finally, when everyone has arrived, we take our places around the tables. There are two. Each has been set up with a “hot pot” in the center. The wok at one table is filled with a steaming hot liquid bubbling inside. On either side are platters of raw ingredients, meats on one side and veggies on the other. At each place setting around the table is a bamboo mat, with a small platter centered on it. A set of chopsticks lays across it, and each is flanked by several small cups of sauces of various colors.

At the other table is a wok of hot peanut oil. The platter to one side is egg roll wrappers, little cups of water, and a bowl of filling , and on the platter on the other side are various raw meats and veggies and a bowl of tempura batter. The guests sitting at this table get to fry their supper. Their place settings are the same.

I gather my guests to the tables and ask if we may join hands, as I play an audio version of the Lord’s Prayer being spoken in Chinese (from YouTube) and then we pray the same prayer together in English.

And with that, I explain to everyone how we’ll select a meat or veggie from the platters using the fondue forks, and then plunge our selections into the hot broth to cook. After a minute or so we can bring the morsels to our personal platters and spoon on whichever sauce we’d like to try. After half an hour or so those seated at the broth wok will take their personal platters and trade places with those seated around the hot oil wok to make egg rolls and tempura things. And then, when everyone has had a chance to try everything, I’ll toss a bunch of noodles into the broth wok and in a few moments serve a small cup of noodle soup to each of my guests.

Of course we all sit around the woks and cook and eat until we are so full we can’t breathe, and that’s when I suggest we leave those tables and gather in the living room for games. I have several set up to choose from: Go, Mahjongg, and Chinese Checkers (even though I’ve been told Chinese Checkers aren’t really Chinese – although if you turn my game tin over to the underside it says, “Made in China” which is good enough for me. Of course everyone is welcome to refill their drinks, and those who are up for learning a new game can sit down to it. Those who know already how to play are encouraged to teach others, and those who are not into new and complicated games can play Chinese Checkers. We all had a set of those at home when we were kids, right? Easy. Only trouble is Chinese Checkers is over in a short time and boring after a while, so for a backup activity I have a Chinese movie all ready to go.

Although the Chinese do not eat dessert (or take beverages) as part of their meal, they do snack on sweets between meals. Their sweets traditionally consist of fruit or almond cookies. So I have a big fruit platter set up in the kitchen with cut up melon, bananas, oranges, apples, strawberries, grapes, berries, and whatever else is in season at the grocery store, along with a platter of crisp Almond cookies, and those yummy rice krispy type treats made with sesame seeds that they serve at my favorite Chinese place on main street, plus a big pile of Fortune Cookies (which also are an American invention, but at least from China Town in San Francisco).

My sister has this fun little tradition of adding “…in the bathroom” to the end of all Chinese fortune cookie fortunes, which makes them kind of funny, so I of course suggest we do that. And everyone reads theirs, and we all laugh, because we’re supposed to. And it’s a little awkward, so we refill our drinks and grab some dessert, and head out to the family room to play our games or watch the movie.

What is the movie, you ask? Well, you have your choice: I have China Cry for the Christian crowd, who possibly wants to be inspired by a flick about faith, or I have the Karate Kid for all of us who remember that from what, the 80’s? I have a Bruce Lee flick, and a Jackie Chan. Or, I also have the Season One episodes of Better Late Than Never, with Henry Winkler, George Foreman, Terry Bradshaw, and William Shatner saved on my DVR for anyone that missed that and wants a good laugh. (They are probably available on Hulu or Netflix too, and the NBC website).

(In mybook I also suggested that a host of this particular supper may want to invite some missionaries from their church who have returned from China and would have interesting stories to share, pictures, and treasures that we could touch and pass around. I also suggested that we could talk as a group about going in on a donation to support a missionary we know, or give a donation to an organization that gives out Bibles in China, or give a money gift to a couple adopting a child from China).

When we’re ready to call it a night, I hand out fireworks (just sparklers and party poppers and the safe backyard varieties) and we all wander out to the front yard to end our night with a BANG! But not too big of a bang because all the neighbors are sleeping. Shhhhh! I have little red goodie bags also hanging in the trees and ask everyone to go look for one by flashlight and take with them before they head to their cars. They have little trinkets from the dollar store in them, a chinese jump rope, some small candies, and a few shiny new quarters – because that’s what I’m told they do in China. As each guest gathers their things to leave there are kisses and hugs all around. Engines begin starting and lights start flipping on, and one by one the cars drive away. I stand there and wave, then turn and contentedly wonder back inside my house with a heart full of great memories and a sink full of dishes to wash. I can’t think of a better way to wreck my kitchen.

MONGOLIAN HOT POT
You’ll need a platter of meats and a platter of veggies, cut up and ready to cook fondue style.

Meats: Scallops, Shrimp, Chicken breasts (cut into strips), Beef (flatiron steak cut into small strips), Pork (loin, cut in small strips or pieces). Place meats on a platter with partitioned wells (like a serving set for tacos) would be ideal. This way the meats won’t mingle and contaminate each other in their raw state. I cut my meats and wrapped my platter in plastic wrap, and stored in the refrigerator the morning of my dinner. Be sure to clean cutting surfaces with warm, soapy water and Clorox wipes between meats and when finished.

Veggies: Carrot coins, cut on the diagonal and then in half, Celery slices, cut on the diagonal and then in half, Snow peas, Cabbage leaves, Broccoli florets, Green pepper slices, Zucchini-cut on the diagonal and then in half, Mushrooms (straw or shitake), Green onions, cut on the diagonal.

Additional ingredients for the soup: bean sprouts, bamboo shoots, water chestnuts, baby corn, and noodles (I don’t really care for the traditional cellophane noodles, so I substitute Ramen or thin spaghetti), garlic cloves, and a smidgen of honey. I also like spicy Thai peppers and cilantro but not everyone does so ask your guests before you add these to the pot, as they can easily be added to individual bowls of soup instead.

Add chicken broth to a shabu yaki, (or electric wok, or an electric skillet or large fondue pot). Fill to about an inch or two below the rim. Place in the center of the supper table. Be sure to wrap the cord securely down a table leg so no one accidentally trips on it and pulls the hot pot over. Plug into a power source and set the temperature dial at the boiling point (about 215 degrees F).

Hot Pot is like fondue. Guests are seated at the table with plates and samplings of sauces. Each uses chopsticks (or fondue forks), takes meat and veggies from the platters, and cooks in the boiling broth. They bring their cooked morsels to their individual plates and dip in their choice of sauce (recipes below) before eating. Once everyone has tried everything and is near being full, noodles are added to the pot, along with the additional ingredients (mentioned above), and then everyone is served a bowl of soup.

NOTE: After my supper I wrapped up all my leftovers and the next day made the best stir-fry ever with all the meats and all the veggies, and what was left of the sauces. If you prefer, this would also be a great idea for your Chinese Supper. Instead of making ‘hot pot’ as above, place all of your ingredients out on the table in the same manner, but replace the broth pot with a hot wok and a little peanut oil instead of broth, and let your guests make their own little “stir-fry” concoctions that they cook themselves. Kind of like a self-serve Mongolian Grill at home.

SWEET AND SOUR SAUCE
3 Tablespoons Cornstarch or tapioca starch

1 cup water

2/3 cup rice vinegar

1 1/3 cup sugar

2 Tablespoons Soy Sauce

½ teaspoon of red food coloring

In a saucepan dissolve the cornstarch in the water, add the remaining ingredients. Heat over medium high heat until sauce boils and thickens.

PLUM SAUCE
2 cups plum jam, jelly, or preserves

1 cup applesauce

1 teaspoon ground ginger

4 teaspoons cornstarch

4 teaspoons soy sauce

4 teaspoons wine vinegar

Mix jam and applesauce in saucepan. Bring to boil. Combine ginger, cornstarch, and soy sauce, vinegar. Stir into jam mixture. Cook stirring constantly until mixture thickens. Cool. Refrigerate until serving time. Bring to room temp before serving.

HOT MUSTARD
½ cup dry mustard

4 Tablespoons peanut oil

4 Tablespoons water

½ cup sugar

2 Tablespoons cornstarch

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup water

½ cup white vinegar

Mix mustard and oil in small bowl. Gradually add the 4 Tbsp. of water, stirring constantly to form a smooth paste. Stir together sugar, cornstarch, and salt in saucepan. Gradually add the cup of water and vinegar. Blend thoroughly. Cook over medium heat until mixture thickens. Gradually add to mustard mixture, stirring constantly until blended. Refrigerate until ready to use. Serve at room temp.

TERIYAKI SAUCE
1 cup pineapple juice

½ cup packed light brown sugar

4 Tablespoons soy sauce

2 Tablespoons peanut oil

1 ½ teaspoons ground ginger

½ teaspoon salt

2 cloves garlic, peeled and minced

Mix all ingredients in a saucepan, simmer to blend flavors.

GARLIC GINGER SAUCE
2 Tablespoons ground ginger

2 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed

½ cup water

4 Tablespoons sugar

1 cup soy sauce

Mix all ingredients. Use as a dipping sauce.

DUCK SAUCE
1 small can cling peaches in heavy syrup

¼ teaspoon ground mustard

1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger root

4 teaspoons red wine vinegar

¼ teaspoon Chinese Five Spice

1 teaspoon cornstarch

1 Tablespoon water

Drain pieces and reserve juice for something else. Mash peaches with a fork or potato masher until well crushed. Add mustard, ginger root, vinegar, and Chinese Five Spice. Bring to a boil, turn down heat and simmer for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally to keep from burning. Dissolve cornstarch in water and add to sauce, stirring constantly. Cook for 2 to 3 minutes, continuing to stir, until thickened. Store in refrigerator until ready to use.

Bottled Soy Sauce (try Kikkoman, which is slightly sweet, and La Choy which is more salty)

EGG ROLLS (this recipe was given to me by my Japanese/American friend, Cyndi)

1 (16-oz) pkg Jimmy Dean regular sausage

Shredded or chopped Napa cabbage (a green cabbage will also work)

½ pkg of bean sprouts (approx. 2 cups)

¾ cup grated carrot

Grate about 2” of ginger root on top

Mix together by hand. Lay one egg roll wrapper on work surface and place a heaping spoon of the meat & veggie mixture in the middle. Fold the wrapper as shown on the packaging. Get a little water on your fingers and moisten the final corner of the wrapper so that it will stick and seal the roll. They must be cooked fairly quickly after they are made as the wrappers will become soggy if wrapped up and stored in the fridge for very long. And they can’t be fried and kept for very long either, as they lose their crunch. They should be the last thing you put together for your meal, moments before your guests arrive. Or, let your guests make these themselves, just as with hot pot above. Have the meat mixture and egg roll wrappers (and small cups of water) ready for each guest to assemble on his or her own.

Set up an electric wok with enough peanut oil for deep frying (again fastening the cord down a table leg so it isn’t accidentally tripped over). Oil temperature should be about 360 degrees F. Consult your owner’s manual. Drop a few egg rolls at a time (not more than 4 or it will cool the oil too much) into hot oil and turn once in a while during frying so they cook evenly, until golden brown. Lay on the rack or drain on paper towels. Serve with soy sauce, hot mustard, or sweet and sour sauce.

TEMPURA: You can also mix up a batch of tempura batter and let guests batter their Hot Pot meats and veggies instead and fry them. When I had my Hot Pot party I set up a soup table and a fry table. I sat the girls down around the soup (Hot Pot) and the men around the wok. I intended to have my crowd eat for a while at each table and then switch, but the men liked frying and didn’t want the hot pot, so they ended up frying egg rolls and tempura things and passing to us, and then just had a small bowl of our noodle soup at the end.

TEMPURA SAUCE

½ cup chicken stock

2 Tablespoons soy sauce

2 Tablespoons cream sherry

2 Tablespoons grated daikon (Japanese radish)

2 Tablespoons peeled and grated fresh gingerroot

Combine first three ingredients. Just before serving, stir in daikon and ginger.

((( Or just use a boxed mix. That’s easiest! )))

So I commended enjoyment, because a man has nothing better under the sun than to eat, drink, and be merry; for this will remain with him in his labor all the days of his life which God gives him under the sun.

Ecclesiastes 8:15

Feast on This

Creamy Lemon Pepper Chicken (& artichokes)

October 18, 2016May 12, 2018 mrshlovesjesus

INGREDIENTS

1 Stick Butter
3 cloves garlic, sliced
1/4 c. finely chopped sweet onion
4 TBSP Lemon juice (bottled is fine, or you are welcome to use fresh squeezed)
6 Chicken Breasts, (boneless/skinless), pounded thin
Lemon Pepper Seasoning (my favorite is the McCormic California Style)
Fresh Basil
Flour
1 pint Heavy Cream
Capers (optional)
Cooked Spaghetti (optional)

DIRECTIONS

Sprinkle chicken with lemon pepper seasoning on both sides and press seasoning into the chicken. Place chicken breasts into frying pan with a little olive oil or butter and fry on each side for approximately 8 to 10 minutes per side, or until internal temperature of 160*F is reached. Remove chicken to a platter; cover and keep in a warm place.

Add 1 stick of butter to drippings in frying pan and melt on medium to medium high heat. Toss in garlic and onion and saute for a minute or so, then add lemon juice. Add 3 Tablespoons of flour and stir to blend until smooth. If the flour doesn’t totally absorb all the liquid, add just bit more flour until you have a nice peanut butter type consistency. Allow the flour to cook for a few minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the heavy cream and wisk to blend. If sauce is too thick, add some water to thin it until the gravy is the consistency you desire.

Add the chicken breasts back to the pan and let them rewarm. If you like capers you can add a couple Tablespoons to the sauce just before serving.

Serve chicken alone, or on a bed of spaghetti or cooked rice.

Slice several leaves of basil into strips and use to garnish chicken. Also a slice of lemon would make it look pretty. Sprinkle with a little more lemon pepper if desired.

How to prepare ARTICHOKES

First select nice firm artichokes with tightly closed leaves.

Cut the stems off (so they will set in the pan upright to cook)

Cut the top off, and the tips off each of the leaves (as they have thorns that will poke you)

Place about 2″ water in a very large pot and bring to a boil, add a tsp salt

Add artichokes to the boiling water and cover with a lid

Boil for about an hour

Check for doneness by grabbing a leaf from a middle place of one of the artichokes with a pair of tongs and tugging it. If it pulls out easily, the chokes are done, but just to be sure let the leaf you pulled out cool slightly and then holding it on the cut end bite onto it (about half way from each end) and drag it between your teeth. If the meat slips off the leaf easily, the choke is done.

I serve mine with a special dipping sauce. This one is my family’s favorite:

1 cup mayo
2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
1 Tbsp chopped garlic
1 Tbsp chopped fresh cilantro
1 ½ tsp Lemon Pepper

Stir together, cover, and chill in refrigerator until ready to serve. 4 servings

THE FELLOWSHIP OF FOOD…

A TASTE OF CULTURE…

“Behold I lay in Zion a Chief Cornerstone, elect, precious, and he who believes on Him will by no means be put to shame.” 1 Peter 2:6

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“Then the kingdom of heaven shall be likened to ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Now five of them were wise, and five were foolish.”

“Those who were foolish took their lamps and took no oil with them, but the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps.”

Visit these websites to learn more:

“But while the bridegroom was delayed, they all slumbered and slept.”

“And at midnight a cry was heard: ‘Behold, the bridegroom is coming; go out to meet him!’”

.

“And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding; and the door was shut. “Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, ‘Lord, Lord, open to us!’ But he answered and said, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, I do not know you.’”

.

“Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming.”

“…choose you this day whom ye will serve; … ” Joshua 24:15 (KJV)

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“”What I am doing you do not understand now,

but you will know after this.”

John 13:7

The Practice of Hospitality

May I wash your feet?

“I have given you an example that you should do as I have done to you” John 13:15.

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Strawberry Blueberry Compote

“The generous soul will be made rich, And he who waters will also be watered himself.“

Proverbs 11:25 NKJV

“It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery”

Galatians 5:1

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First we start with the Ranchera Sauce

Now, the preparation of the green chilies…

Mama’s Refried Beans

Cheesy Green Chili Rice

“And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts.” Acts 2:46

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Prepare the Green Chilies

The Beef Patties

Toppings

To Assemble the Burger

For this Memorial Day,

Colleen’s Mexican Street Corn

“Prepare the table, watch in the watchtower, eat, drink: arise, ye princes, [and] anoint the shield…” Isaiah 21:5

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There goes the school year!!!!

Lunchbox “Hammer” Throw

Crayola Archery

Homework Fencing

Alarm Clock Shot Put Throw

Three R’s Shooting Competition

Water Bottle Relay with Hurdles

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“Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter therein.” Mark 10:15 KJV

After Dinner … Time for FUN!

Movie Time!

.

Crafts

I hope you have as much fun with this celebration as I and my family did.

The Lord liveth, and blessed be the Rock, and let the God of our Salvation be exhaulted!!!

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“Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble; Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is.”

1 Corinthians 3:12-13 (KJV)

“It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.” Mark 10:25

Did you know…

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“And it came to pass on a second solemn Sabbath, that He went through the corn fields, and His disciples plucked the ears of corn, and did eat, and rubbed them in their hands.” Luke 6:1 (Geneva Bible)

“For every creature of God is good, and nothing is to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving; For it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer.”

1 Timothy 4:4-5

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Mark 15:7-15

Luke 23:13, 14, 18-25

John 18:39-40

Who did they choose? Better yet, who do YOU choose?

Up from the grave He arose!

~ Free Will or God’s Will? ~

a son or The Son?

Apart from God we can do nothing!

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Mom’s Green Chili

Mom’s Spicy Red Chili

Colleen’s Homemade Chili Powder

Mom’s Chicken Tortilla Soup (mildly spicy)

“The generous soul will be made rich,
And he who waters will also be watered himself.“