Yesterday I had Sunday dinner with my family – my wonderful church family! Boones Creek Bible Church celebrated its 56th anniversary with a special day. Former pastor, Larry Draper was there to preach God’s Word, we sang our church’s favorite songs, a testimony was given by a life-long member, and a church-wide dinner followed the morning service. It was a day of counting God’s blessings on this ministry that belongs to Him, the Creator of The Church.

The message was Four Things You Cannot Do. The first point was you cannot give the Gospel to the wrong individual. I love that! Every person needs the Gospel message, so anyone you share it with is the right person! The message was a reminder that Boones Creek must be evangelizing the lost in order to stay alive! It was a challenge to my heart. I believe this is the weakest area in my Christian life, and I so desire that to change!

I was brave and tried three new recipes to make for the church dinner:

This apple cobbler was super easy and very good. I got this recipe from Katie Brown’s show. You can substitute any fruit you’d like. This recipe is a keeper – especially for a quick dessert.

Scalloped Potatoes with Sweet Marjoram and Parmesan Cheese

1/2 Cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

1 T dried whole marjoram (I used ground)

1 t salt

1/2 t garlic powder

1/4 t grated nutmeg

1/4 t pepper

4 large baking potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced (about 3 pounds)

2 T freshly grated Parmesan cheese

2 cups whipping cream

1/2 cup water

Garnish: fresh parsley sprigs

Combine first 6 ingredients in a small bowl. Set aside.

Layer one third of potatoes in a lightly greased 12 x 8 x 2 inch baking dish. Sprinkle half of seasoning mixture over potatoes. Repeat layers with potatoes and seasonings, ending with potatoes. Sprinkle evenly with 2 tablespoons Parmesan cheese.

Combine whipping cream and water; pour over potatoes. Cover with foil, and bake at 350 degrees for 1 1/2 hours. Uncover and bake 30 minutes. Let stand 10 minutes before serving.

Chuck Roast in Sauce

1 8 oz. can tomato sauce

1/2 cup beef broth

1 medium onion, chopped

1 (3-4 pound) boneless chuck roast

2 T vegetable oil

1/2 cup cider vinegar

1/4 Cup catsup

2 t Worcestershire sauce

1 t prepared mustard

1 t paprika

1/8 t garlic powder

Combine first 3 ingredients in a shallow dish; add roast. Cover and marinate in refrigerator 8 hours.

Remove roast from marinade, reserving marinade. Place roast in a Dutch oven. Combine marinade and remaining ingredients; pour over roast. Cover and bake at 350 degrees for 2 1/2 to 3 hours or until roast is tender. Skim fat from sauce. Serve sauce with roast. Yield: 6 servings.

What blessings did you participate in at church yesterday, and did you cook anything delicious this weekend?

With love,

My kitchen was unused this weekend, due to a wonderful trip to the Creation Museum. Oh, if you have the opportunity to go, you really need to see all that this place shows. I came home with a humbled heart at a wonderful, omnipotent God Who created a vast universe, and yet is mindful of me! What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him? Psalm 8:4 It was humbling, indeed!

I have tried a couple of new recipes lately that we enjoyed so much and I want to share them with you. The first is a main dish called Wasabi and Panko Crusted Pork with Gingered Soy Sauce. Wow! It was so good!

It calls for Wasabi paste which I’d never used before, but it really gives great flavor to the sauce. It also calls for sake (no idea what it is!) or dry sherry. I personally never add alcohol to a recipe. I usually just add chicken broth in its place and have never missed it. I’ll leave that up to your personal conviction.

I served the dish with rice and peas. It’s a quick fix meal as well. I hope you’ll try it!

The other recipe I tried was for Chocolate Chip Raisin Biscotti. These look hard, but they’re super simple, fat free and wonderful with a good cup of coffee!

This has been a weekend to eat outside! The temps dropped into the high 70’s, so we took a picnic to the lake on Saturday, ate supper out back at our little soda table in the yard Saturday night, and had breakfast and Sunday dinner on the deck. It was perfect!

Menu

Roasted Chicken with Lemon Curd

Potatoes & Carrots

Steamed Broccoli

Fresh Fruit

I tried a new roasted chicken recipe for dinner and we both loved it. It has an herb mixture rubbed under the skin of the chicken, then you glaze the outside with lemon curd. It was really moist and full of flavor. The recipe came from Cooking Light and you can find it here. The outside of the chicken gets a little dark because of the sweet curd, but that’s also oh, so delicious!

I added carrots and potatoes to the dish in about a cup of chicken broth. It just makes for an easy side dish. I don’t know about you, but we are always ready to eat when we get home from church, so anything I can do to hasten getting the meal on the table is a good thing!

Is this not the perfect apple?

We picked up some Gala apples at the Apple Barn last week and it got me to thinking about apple desserts, specifically, fried apple pies. So I made a batch…

When I was growing up, my mom often made fried pies for our picnics, so when we planned a picnic for Saturday, I got up and cooked some dried apples and made pies for our day at the lake. It’s a nice treat I make about once a year!

I also hadn’t made bread for about a month, so I decided to make Cinnamon Raisin Bread with my Sour dough starter. I love looking at Panera and other bakeries and getting ideas for my breads. I added a cinnamon crunch topping to my bread, along with the cinnamon and raisins that were swirled into the loaf. Fall just cries out for bread like this, doesn’t it? I toasted a slice, buttered it and sprinkled it with cinnamon and sugar. Yummy treat at breakfast!

What kind of special things have you been cooking in your kitchen this week?

Under His feathers,

I got into a nesting mode Saturday. Maybe it was because Alli’s stuff had been moved out – I don’t know. I emptied the fridge and cleaned it and the freezer. I changed some of the decor in the kitchen. My herbs have done really well this summer, so I made a little display on the counter…

I took some of my fresh herbs and made a bouquet for the kitchen table. It looks and smells so fresh! Thyme, basil, rosemary and parsley and mint will be ready to use for recipes since they’re sitting in water. I love this little wire basket – I use it for lots of different things (thanks, Whitney!)

Sunday dinner was just the two of us because:

1. Alli’s back in college
2. My husband had a nasty cold

However, I tried to make it as special as if we had a house-full.

Menu
Stuffed Peppers
Fresh corn
Carrot-Raisin Salad
Parmesan Bread

This recipe is really tasty, and if you don’t normally like stuffed peppers you need to try these. A dear lady at church shared her garden’s peppers with us and I couldn’t wait to make this recipe! The peppers are only boiled a few minutes, so they’re still crispy instead of boiled to death, and the filling is really yummy. Here’s the recipe:

Stuffed Peppers

2 large green peppers

8 ounces ground beef

1 small onion, chopped

2 medium tomatoes, peeled and cut into wedges

1/2 cup long grain rice

1/2 cup water

2 tsp Worcestershire sauce

1/2 tsp dried basil, crushed

1/4 tsp pepper

1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Fresh basil leaves (opt)

Halve peppers lengthwise and remove stem ends, seeds and membranes. Immerse peppers into boiling water for 3 minutes. Invert onto paper towels to drain well.

In large skillet cook meat and onion till meat is brown and onion is tender. Drain off fat. Stir in the tomatoes, uncooked rice, water, Worcestershire sauce, basil and pepper. Bring to boiling; reduce heat. Cover and simmer for 15 – 18 minutes or till the rice is tender. Stir in half of the cheese. Spoon meat mixture into peppers. Place peppers in an 8x8x2-inch baking dish. Spoon any remaining meat mixture into baking dish.

Bake, uncovered, in a 375 degree oven about 15 minutes or till heated through. Sprinkle with remaining cheese. Let stand for 1 to 2 minutes or till the cheese melts. If desired, garnish plate with fresh basil leaves. Makes 4 servings.

Being mostly empty nesters (Alli is home about a total of two months in a year now), can I just say again, that this is God’s plan? I am amazed at how many of our peers we run into when taking our daughter to school, and see that they’re struggling with having no children at home. I love my girls and I love it when they’re here, but you know what? Alone is the way we started out and it’s the way it will end up, and we are okay with that. Our friends look at us with horrified expressions when we tell them that we’re adjusting to and even enjoying this phase of our lives. Dinners should still be served with careful attention and love, just as they were when all the family was gathered around the table. The house needs fresh touches and decor so that our husband knows we care about him.

Don’t fold up and die when your children are gone! If your family is young right now, start preparing yourself for the day when they will leave. You do that by leaving them with a babysitter and go out on a date regularly. Every couple of years, leave for more than a day and have a vacation alone. Sorry if I sound like a broken record on this subject, but I keep running into this at every turn, so I just have to address it! 🙂 I learned this lesson from my parents. They’ve been great examples to me of keeping their marriage alive, and enjoying each phase of life as it comes along. I am asking the Lord to help me do the same.

Have you and your husband had a special date lately? What did you do?

What’s been cookin’ in your kitchen lately?

With love,