Dinner · dinner in 30 minutes · Fall · home · main dish

My Three Go-To Meals

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There are always busy fall/winter days that demand a fast supper meal.  For those days, I try to keep the ingredients on hand for the entree’s  listed above  because they are:

  1. Done in under 30 minutes
  2. Filling
  3. Delicious!!!

To make White Castle Sliders, Cheese Ravioli with Tomatoes, and Sausage Corn Chowder, all I need to keep on hand is:

2 pounds hamburger
Hawaiian Rolls – I freeze these
Frozen Cheese Ravioli – I recently tried Aldi’s brand and it was very good!
Tomatoes (I freeze the cherry tomatoes and use them for this dish if I don’t have fresh on hand)
Red Onion
Parmesan Cheese
Canned Corn
Cream Corn
Evaporated milk
Potatoes
1 pound Sausage

These are all very basic staple items to keep.  Having them on hand allows me to put a great meal together so quickly!  

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White Castle Sliders
2# hamburger (80/20)
Dried Onion Flakes
Seasoned Salt
Sister Shubert Rolls
Sprinkle dried onion flakes in the bottom of a 9 x 13 dish.
Press beef over onion flakes, make a one huge patty.
Sprinkle with Seasoned salt.
Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes, or until done.
Drain and Pat grease off.
Top with cheese slices.  Place back in oven for 2 minutes to melt.
Remove and slice into hamburger patties, the size of your buns.
Pasta dishes are great for quick meals, but this one isn’t your normal Spaghetti and pasta meal!  This is one of our favorites – in a hurry or not!  Add some toasted French Bread and a salad and your meal is complete!
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Cheese Ravioli with Tomatoes

Ingredients:

1 pound cherry tomatoes
2 shallots, cut into wedges (I use red onion instead)
Cooking spray
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
12 ounces frozen cheese ravioli

2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 425°.
2. Halve half of tomatoes. Arrange cut tomatoes, whole tomatoes, and shallots on a jelly-roll pan coated with cooking spray.  Drizzle with 1 tablespoon oil; toss.
Bake at 425° for 35 minutes.
3. Add 2 tablespoons oil, vinegar, salt, and pepper to pan. Bake 10 minutes.
4. Cook ravioli according to package directions, omitting salt and fat. Drain ravioli, reserving 1/4 cup cooking liquid. Add ravioli to tomatoes; toss. Add cooking liquid, if needed. Garnish with chopped basil.Drizzle with 1 tablespoon oil; toss. Bake at 425° for 35 minutes.
3. Add 2 tablespoons oil, vinegar, salt, and pepper to pan. Bake 10 minutes.
4. Cook ravioli according to package directions, omitting salt and fat. Drain ravioli, reserving 1/4 cup cooking liquid. Add ravioli to tomatoes; toss. Add cooking liquid, if needed. Garnish with chopped basil.

 

This chowder is so hearty and comforting!  It’s been a favorite of our family for years! You could add some quick biscuits or just crackers and a salad to round it out.

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Sausage Corn Chowder

1 LB Bulk Pork Sausage
1 med onion
3 medium potatoes, cut into 1/2 cubes
2 cps water
1/2 tsp dried marjoram
1 tsp salt
crushed 1/2 tsp pepper
1 15 1/4 oz can whole kernel corn, drained
1 14 3/4 oz can cream style corn
1 12oz can evaporated milk

Preparation:
Crumble pork sausage into 4 qt dutch oven; cook over medium heat for 5 minutes. add onion; cook about 5 minutes more or until sausage is brown. Add cubed potatoes, water, seasonings, bring to boiling; reduce heat. Cover and simmer about 20 minutes or until potatoes are tender. Stir in the whole kernel corn, cream style corn and evaporated milk. heat chowder through.
6 Main dish servings

There are other meal ingredients that I have kept ready for those busy days and I’ll share some of those next week.  In the meantime, tell me what  ingredients do you keep in your pantry and freezer and what meal do you make with them?

With love from my country kitchen,

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Fall · outfits · Uncategorized

What the Preacher’s Wife wore

When you open the weather app on your phone and this is what is says – how do you dress?!

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Here’s what I try to do:

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Layers is the answer for me.  When it’s cool in the morning and evening I can leave on the top layer, when it warms up I can take off a layer. This outfit consisted of olive green jeans, a cotton blouse, leopard flats and a denim vest.  

Dressier outfit:

Last year I found this winter white skirt at the Dillard’s outlet.  I love the versatility it gives me!  Here are two ways I’ve found to wear it.  The one on the right is another idea of layering.

Now, for a whole different kind of outfit… Brace yourself!

With Trick or Treat coming up, maybe you’re looking for a simple DIY costume?  Let me show you the funny ones my husband and I did last Wednesday for our church’s Trunk or Treat.  I was a Rain Cloud, he was a Nerd.  Oh, did he nail it or what? Yikes!

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Along with my rain cloud hat, the picture below will show you that I also wore a black top and pants, with rain boots to complete the outfit.

I went to the Dollar Tree and bought

  • a child’s cowboy hat
  • four bags of cotton balls
  • Blue foam squares
  • Blue ribbon
  • Gray paint
  • You’ll also need a glue gun, which I already had.

costume-instructionsTake the cotton balls and kind of pull them out to fluff them up a bit, then begin gluing them to the hat to create the cloud.  Cover the hat, using more than one layer.  This takes a while, just be patient.

Then cut rain drop shapes from the foam, I did about 20.  Glue two together with the ribbon in-between.  Attach the ribbons to the hat.  I tried to stick it up on that hat, between the cotton balls so it would stick a little better.  I dabbed a little bit of acrylic gray paint on the white cotton balls.  You could also use gray spray paint to add a touch to your cloud.

That’s it!  This costume cost me under $10!

Do you ever dress up for Halloween?  It was fun to “join the party” and have fun with the kids at church!

What are you wearing during these cool/warm fall days?

Stay refreshed by going to a Bible preaching church this weekend!

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baking · Bread · Fall

Oh-So Moist Pumpkin Muffins

 

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Saturday afternoon found me happily  not busy after a very busy week.  It was a very cool fall day, and I was home alone.  My mind went to one of my favorite activities – baking. I needed to have something for Sunday breakfast, and also wanted to send something over to my neighbors.  So, I decided to venture out and try a new Pumpkin Muffin recipe!  I have my old standby that I still love, but, like anything else, I wanted to try something new!  

The recipe I found calls for Coconut oil, which I’ve just started using this year.  It doesn’t make the muffin taste like coconut – it just gives a great texture!  Don’t be afraid to try it, but if you don’t have any or don’t want to use it, you can use vegetable oil instead.  If you’ve ever had a dry muffin, you know you never want to go there. ever.again.  But these are Oh-SO MOIST!

My husband came home when these had just cooled.  When he’s home, he really watches his sweet/bread intake, but he ate four of the little ones I baked without blinking an eye!  That’s when I knew I needed to share this recipe and my tweaks with you!

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Oh-So Moist Pumpkin Muffins
Makes about 18 Regular sized muffins

Ingredients:
1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon Pumpkin Pie spice
2 eggs
1 15 ounce can pure pumpkin puree
1/2 cup coconut oil, melted
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Coarse sugar crystals – optional

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.  Spray muffin pan with cooking spray.
Measure out the flour, sugars, baking soda, salt and spices in a medium bowl and whisk together. Set aside.
In another bowl, whisk together the eggs, pumpkin puree, coconut oil and vanilla extract.
Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir together. Do not over mix, just stir until all the dry ingredients are mixed in completely.

I use an ice cream scoop to distribute the batter into each muffin cup. They will be nearly full. This will help give your muffins a nice rounded top. Sprinkle with sugar crystals for a nice little crunch on top.
Bake your muffins for 20-22 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean.

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I used autumn colored sugar crystals – that’s why there’s green and red dots on top!

I like putting these in the muffin tin, rather than papers because it also made the edges of the muffins a little crispy – which we love.

I hope you’ll try these if you get a little time in the kitchen this week (they don’t take long at all!).  Like me, you may be replacing your “standby recipe” with this one!!!

With love from my country kitchen,

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Dinner · Fall · Home decor

Friday Favorites – Fall Party

Last weekend we got to have a lovely Fall party in our backyard.  It was so much fun to prep and decorate for it, and I couldn’t wait to show you some pictures.

The guests were our recent Apples Of Gold mentoring group and their husbands.  The Lord gave us a gorgeous day and evening to enjoy being outside for the entire dinner.

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I used mums and small pumpkins, as well as corn stalks out on the patio area.  I covered the three round tables where our guests ate with brown butcher paper.  Then I wrote the guest’s names on the paper.  Each table had a centerpiece that was a mixture of fall items – pumpkins, candles, apples, leaves and other decorative pieces set on a wooden tray or a piece of barn wood (see pic below).

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The menu consisted of:

Artichoke Dip and crackers

Veggie Tray and dip

Blue Cheese Crackers

Cream of Wild Rice Soup

Potato Soup

Beef and Barley Soup

Homemade French Bread

Harvest Salad – Greens, apples, red onion, dried cranberries, walnuts and blue cheese with a Balsamic vinaigrette

Pumpkin Crunch Cake

Texas Sheet Cake

The evening turned nice and cool, making the fire a welcomed place to gather to share testimonies of how the Lord has used Apples of Gold in each life, to sing songs and to be challenged by my husband to “Continue” and “Compliment.”  I thought the night was a huge success and can’t wait to host another gathering outside this fall!

Other events of the weekend consisted of a morning in Jonesborough with my daughter, Alli.  Jonesborough (the oldest city in TN) is always quaint and fun and beautiful, but add a farmer’s market, a library book sale and fall decorations, and you have a perfect morning!

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That waffle with blueberries above was my breakfast – fixed by my sweet husband before I headed out to Jonesborough!  Okay, I made the waffles and froze them, so all he had to do was toast them, but he thought of me, fixed breakfast, added blueberries and brought it up to me while I was having my Quiet Time!  What a great way to start any day!

One last group of photos below will reveal a kitty who curled up in the wooden tray on my chaise lounge – one I used ot hold magazines!  I never know where I’ll find her sleeping!

I was on the search for a gray cardigan and I found the one pictured here clearnanced priced for a whopping $5!  Double win!!

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The fall sunrises have been so beautiful!  I feel like Robert Sheffey, the old circuit riding preacher when he would see the sun setting and would take his sheep skin and go pray because he could “almost see heaven peeking through those clouds.”  I use my walking time to pray out loud to the Lord.  These cool, beautiful mornings have been such a blessing as I cry out to the Lord, walk and pray!

My week and my heart is full of so many of God’s blessings!  I am undeserving, but so very thankful! What fun things did you do this week?

Stay refreshed,

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Fall · Pastor's Wife · Prayer

Friday Favorites

Last weekend I had the joy of attending and speaking at the Pastor’s Wives Retreat that I shared about earlier.  The location of the retreat is perfect because it’s quiet, it’s beautiful, and truly restful.  Here is a collage of pictures from the three-day retreat:

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From top left to right –

  1. Alli went with me and did all the music.  She is so gifted and the ladies were so blessed by her songs.  What a blessing to get to serve with her at a retreat!
  2. We had an hour in which I instructed the ladies how to have a personal prayer retreat.  The questions inside the pamphlet we used are piercing and get right to the heart.  I think it may have been the best hour of the whole weekend!
  3. This is the lodge where our sessions and meals were.  The view of the mountains revealed some leaves changing colors.
  4. When the retreat was ended, Alli and I took a little hike.  The scenery on this road definitely points to the truth that it’s fall!
  5. The chalet we stayed in is my favorite one because it’s so remote.  My favorite place is always the front porch in a rocker.  Alli and I spent a good deal of time out there.  Friday afternoon a little rain rolled in and that made it even cozier!
  6. The little creek is really low since things have been pretty dry this summer, but it was still pretty.

The stress of getting ready for a retreat is pretty overwhelming.  When it’s behind me and I get home, it feels so good to get into my “normal routine” of walking and being home.  Monday morning this was my view as I exercised :

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The spiders had been REALLY busy the night before because there were webs all along that fence!  It was really pretty though because the dew hung on the delicate lines of their traps and the sun was shining through the light fog.  Nothing better than walking with a gorgeous view!

I really enjoy my herb garden and it’s done super well this summer.  This week I went out and harvested more of my herbs and I also made up a couple of arrangements, adding some flowers from my yard, as well as the fragrant herbs.

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I love having my flowers and herbs around the house.  I placed this one on the night stand beside our bed.

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Does anyone else herb garden?  How do you utilize your bounty?

Tonight our church is hosting the Cry Out! event that Revive our Hearts is doing in Indianapolis.  I am excited to join women in prayer as we petition God for revival in our own lives, our churches, homes and world!  Anyone can watch Revive our Hearts live simulcast.

Stay refreshed this weekend as you seek the Lord in your local church!

Happy fall,

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