Something is missing at church – FELLOWSHIP. Oh, we’ll all stand around and chat til the lights get turned off, but what’s happened to having people in our homes? Sometimes we make cooking and entertaining harder than it really needs to be. Sunday dinner at home doesn’t have to be fried chicken and mashed potatoes. Why not make a soup on Saturday and then warm it up for Sunday’s dinner? Add a loaf of French Bread or crackers and you have a hearty meal to come home to after church services – and also to serve to guests.

When was the last time you invited someone to your home for a meal or refreshments? One of the best things about having a home is sharing it with others. Can I challenge you to invite a family over soon? They won’t care if you don’t get every corner dusted or if you didn’t have time to change paint colors in your living room. Open your home with a loving heart and a simple meal and enjoy the opportunity to serve others. Encourage a college student who’s away from home. Be a blessing to a young married couple or a widow. Share the Gospel with an unsaved family…all around your table.

Soups are good one dish meals that are great to entertain with. I’m making four different soups for a fellowship later this week and freezing them ahead of time. One soup we really love is U.S. Senate Bean Soup. I got the recipe years ago from Taste of Home. It takes several hours to cook, but it’s not labor intensive. The reviews on this recipe are really low, and I can’t figure that one out. No, it’s not a spicy soup, but the ham bone makes it very flavorful. I freeze my ham bone after Christmas to use for this soup later on. If I don’t have one, I go to Honey Baked Ham and buy one for $5. I’ve even gone after Christmas to get one and they had them buy one, get one free! That’s a deal for a pot of soup!

When I cook the beans, I do the quick method – bring them to a boil, then add 2 tsp baking soda and boil for 2 minutes. Let set for 1 hour, then rinse and proceed with the recipe. The baking soda keeps the beans from causing upset stomachs!

Add the onions, celery, garlic and potato flakes and cook for 1 more hour. Remove the ham from the bone and add the meat back to soup pot.

Ta-da! Yummy and delicious!

Last weekend I had a chicken salad sandwich and got to watch the cook make her own special recipe. I hope it wasn’t a secret, because I have to share it with you! It was super good! This would make a great Sunday night meal. The sandwiches could be made ahead of time so you could easily have folks over for fellowship after the evening service. Served on French bread or a croissant and this would make a great light meal. Add some chips, fresh fruit and cookies and your guests will be glad they came!

If you don’t entertain guests in your home, what is hindering you? I’d love for you to leave a comment and be honest. Is it the cost? You don’t know what to do? Are you too busy? Maybe we can come up with a solution to help! If you do entertain, what is the thing you like serving most?

Happy cooking!

I’ve mentioned many times about the help a menu can be with both time and budget. My menu planning is very simple. At this time in my life I only pencil in my supper meals. I keep breakfast items on hand – English muffins, dry cereals, oatmeal, fruit, eggs, and bacon. For lunch there are soups, canned tuna, tortillas for quesadillas or wraps, salad makings, etc.

In our earlier years, I also wrote down breakfast and lunch menus – partly due to a tighter budget, and partly because there were four of us and things needed to be a little more structured. With children there for meals, it was important to have meals at regular times. I also needed to know exactly what I was having for each meal so I could prep ahead. Now breakfast and lunch take place we feel like eating it! Kinda nice!

I sit down with cookbooks or my recipe box and look for new recipes or things I haven’t made in a while that match up to what’s in my freezer and pantry or what’s on sale in the grocery ads that week. I got broccoli on sale for under $1.50 a couple weeks ago, so I made cream of broccoli soup and had steamed broccoli as a side dish with another meal. The remainder of the broccoli got blanched and then frozen for future meals.

I’ll pencil in the days of the week, then the main dish, salad, and/or vegetable to go with it. Sometimes I may switch out the menu and make it on a different day, but I really stick to my menu for the week.

Here’s what I’ve planned for the next week:

The items with ** by them are new recipes. The others are things I’ve made before that we enjoyed.

Thursday – Day trip to Greenville to take Alli back to school
Friday – **Mini Meatball Sandwiches , Tossed salad
Saturday – **Chicken Strips with Blue Cheese Dressing , Celery & carrot sticks, French Peas
Sunday – Pitch in dinner – Potato Casserole, Salad, & dessert to be determined!
Monday – Tomatoes, Sausage and Pasta with Albuquerque Corn Salad
Tuesday – Chicken Stir Fry & Rice, Popovers – See my Recipe here
Wednesday – Leftovers
Thursday & Friday – Soup Supper for Deacons and their wives – Making several homemade soups, breads and dessert.
Saturday – Sweet Potato Pancakes , Bacon & Fresh fruit

Do you normally make out a menu? How does it help you? Has it helped your budget? What are you making this week?

With love,

Have you ever been in such a hurtful situation that it made you wonder if the Lord was seeing what was happening to you? You may be asking, “Where is God in all this mess?” In reading Genesis 29 I was reminded how Jacob is tricked by his Uncle Laban. He marries Leah instead of his beloved Rachel. However, after working for seven more years, he also takes Rachel as his wife. He loves Rachel, and despises poor Leah. Despises? Yes. Verse 31 says, When He (the Lord) saw that Leah was hated He opened her womb.

Can you imagine such a situation? Perhaps someone reading this truly can. My heart hurts for you, Friend. Some women are despised by husbands, fathers, children, co-workers, neighbors, and the pain is undeniably difficult to bear. But let me comfort you with the words of this passage – the Lord saw. It can be overlooked or unseen by men, but an omniscient, omnipresent God sees. Not only did he see, but He also favored her by opening her womb and giving her a child. See also His compassion as He grants this desire for Leah who so wanted Jacob to love her for something she could do that Rachel could not.

In chapter 31, verse 17 we read that not only did the Lord see, but at this time the Lord heard. Leah cries out for another son, and God gives her her desire. What she’s asking for is a request that would not be against God’s will – a wife wants a child. It was perfectly right that she desire and ask God for this request. What is it that you are crying out to God for? Perhaps you’ve been crying for some time. Don’t doubt that the Lord is hearing you. He does. Keep praying. Keep asking. See His sovereign hand moving in Leah’s life to bring about His will and remember that His sovereignty is also at work in your life today.

Rachel is an innocent person in this story. It wasn’t her fault that Jacob loved her more. She didn’t force him to take two wives. Her heart’s desire was also for a child and she prayed and agonized as her sister bore many sons, while her own womb was barren. She continued to long for a child. She must have kept praying, for verse 22 it says that the Lord remembered Rachel and hearkened unto her and opened her womb. Do you feel forgotten or alone in your situation – your painful experience? The Lord remembers you, Dear one. He loves you and thinks on you every day many, many times over.

Though you and I may not be in a love triangle and praying for a child (or maybe you are), we experience painful situations that parallel to this family’s. Be comforted by the truths that God sees your situation, He hears your cries, and He remembers what you’re facing. Tied to that is His compassion, His omnipresence, His omniscience, His omnipotence and His sovereignty. So keep praying and trusting. He is there with you now.

With love,

Facebook is an amazing tool. I have been able to reconnect with people that I hadn’t heard from in years! What a blessing to be “found” by them and then catch up on their lives and gasp at how many years have passed since our last meeting. Little children from my past are now parents themselves. My peers are grandparents, and I guess because I’m not in that role yet, even that is hard to imagine!