Mmmmmm!

Taco Casserole is an inexpensive and simple dish to prepare.  I made it lots when my girls were home.  I like to serve a Spanish Rice with it – I use the Zatarain’s Brand.  You only add tomatoes and water to the rice mix and let it simmer for about 20 minutes.  It’s super good!

 

Here’s the recipe for the casserole:

Taco casserole 
Jiffy Cornbread mix
1# Ground beef
Taco Seasoning
Canned Tomatoes or Tomato Sauce
Cheese

Mix up the Cornbread as directed.  Place in greased square dish.  Set aside.
Brown ground beef in skillet; drain fat.  Add taco seasoning and a can of tomatoes with the juice.  Pour over cornbread mix.  Top with Cheese.

Taco Casserole, ready for the oven!

Bake about 20 minutes at 400 degrees.  Serve with sour cream.

Taco Casserole and Spanish Rice

Dessert was a new recipe I found in a Gooseberry Patch Cookbook I checked out from the local library over the weekend.  Cookbooks are one of my favorite kind of books to scour through!  You never know what kind of treasures you’ll come upon.  This dessert is made in the crock pot!  I’m thinking this would be a great dessert to come home to on Sunday night.  It begs for a scoop of ice cream to balance off the nice dark chocolate.  Please oblige.  =)

I know what you’re thinking!  “If this is spoon cake, why is there a fork on the plate?”  Because I wasn’t thinking when I took the picture! It was indeed eaten with a spoon!

Hot Fudge Spoon Cake
Ingredients

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 3/4 cup brown sugar, packed and divided
1/4 cup plus 3 tablespoons baking cocoa, divided
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup milk
2 tablespoons butter, melted
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 3/4 cups hot water
Optional: vanilla ice cream
Preparation

Combine flour, one cup brown sugar, 3 tablespoons cocoa, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl. Whisk in milk, butter and vanilla. Spread evenly in a slow cooker. Mix together remaining 3/4 cup brown sugar and 1/4 cup cocoa; sprinkle evenly over top of batter. Pour in hot water; do not stir. Cover and cook on high setting for 2 hours or until a toothpick inserted one inch deep comes out clean. Spoon warm cake into bowls; top with vanilla ice cream, if desired.

Any new…or perhaps old favorite recipes cooking up in your kitchen this weekend?

With love from my country kitchen,

I’m not really an adventuresome driver.  I prefer quiet two lane roads in small towns to the multi-lane interstates in the large cities.  I’d rather putter along at 40 miles an hour with the window down than imitate a 747 at take off.  Yeah, you probably don’t want to drive behind me if you’re in a hurry.

Yesterday afternoon on my way home from “town” (that’s where I go now that I live in the country!) I couldn’t believe how busy the interstate was at 4:00!  My girls will  laugh, but it was bumper to bumper traffic, though it was moving.  I continued my journey home, getting off at the first exit.  The cars were still pretty busy; some getting into turn lanes, others entering the road from the interstate coming the opposite direction.  I went through a couple more traffic lights where the road narrowed to just two lanes.  The traffic thinned out.  When it came time to turn towards the country, I found only one car way up ahead.  Then as I neared my house, what I saw was the picture above.  Just me and the road.  I sighed…this is the way I like it.  It made me want to roll my window down!

At that moment, the Lord brought to my mind the thought I’d heard some time before – The closer you get to the cross, the thinner the crowd gets. There was no crowd beating down Jesus’ door so that they might travel with Him as He went to the cross.  Even His own disciples left Him.  It was a very lonely road.

Any time you or I make the choice to follow the Lord in abandon, it will not be an interstate full of cars that surrounds us.  It will be like a lonely highway or a country road.  When Mary of Bethany anointed Jesus’ feet, she was condemned by one of Jesus’ disciples; the one who also betrayed Christ.  Who was at the tomb after His death?  Just a few women.  The disciples were even in hiding.  There would have been no trouble merging into the traffic to the Garden.

What I found yesterday when I ventured out into the country was bliss.  On a much higher plane, you and I will find unprecedented joy when we follow the lonely path of sacrifice, love and surrender to our Lord.  The crowd is thinner, but the company with whom we travel are those who also love our Savior and favor the lonely road of love spilled out.

It’s worth the time to follow the Road Less Traveled.  Why?  Our Savior is there, and He waits for us.

Keep on the road, my friend.

With love,

Did you know that people are watching your marriage? There are no spies outside your home’s windows, but everywhere you go as a couple, you have eyes on your relationship. Don’t you watch others when you’re out? You see a man and a woman at a restaurant and you see the sweet way they engage with one another and you think, “How sweet! He really pays attention to her!” “She sure adores him!” You see a couple at church and you notice how they worship together. He helps her with her coat. She holds his hand when they stand to sing. You see. You take note and make assumptions based on how they respond to one another.

Though I do the very same kind of observing of other couples, I often forget that others are observing my marriage. Recently another married couple said to my husband and me, “We’ve enjoyed watching the two of you. You seem to really enjoy one another.” I was quite surprised, though I shouldn’t have been. Like me, they had been watching as Dale and I did very normal things. We were at church, eating a meal with them in our home, riding from place to place in a car, and they were taking note of how we responded to one another. They made the (correct) assumption, based on what they saw, that we truly loved one another and had a special marriage. That made me stop and think about what they saw. They are just little things, but they are what makes an average marriage great. Here are a few things they might have seen; things that might be reminders for you to keep or add in your marriage:

It’s the little things that are some of the most important ingredients in our love. We don’t do them just because others are watching, but they should be seen when they observe us. What are you doing that will demonstrate to others that you really love and care for your husband? Someone is watching.

With love,

P.S. If no one else sees, your children do. What a blessing for them to watch their parents really love one another. You are giving them security when they grow up in that kind of atmosphere!
Also: Check back tomorrow for the practical ways to demonstrate your love as mentioned in this post.

What a great weekend we had!  May I tell you the BEST news first?  I had the wonderful privilege of sharing the Gospel with a woman visiting our church yesterday, and she trusted Christ as her Savior!  After a week of evangelism training, this was the cherry on top of the sundae!  What a sweet blessing to watch a person turn from saying they have no idea how to have a relationship with God, to 20 minutes later hearing them pray to receive Christ!  Praise the Lord for His work in her heart!

The weather was gorgeous all weekend.  After attending a sweet baby shower Saturday afternoon, I came home and we pulled out our (KY Blue) Corn Hole game and had lots of laughs and a few good shots.  Just look at our view. . .isn’t God good?!

My husband and I were a team against Alli and Andrew.  I’m happy to announce that the older generation took them out! 2-0!

I failed to get a picture of my guests, but Sunday dinner was a gathering of another sweet young couple that just got engaged this weekend!  It was fun to hear their story, and also to talk with them about his new-found faith in Christ.  We had a great time of fellowship around the table.

My menu was my favorite Sunday dinner – Roast Chicken.  Here’s the complete menu:

Future Son-in-law photo bombing the picture =)

Seasoned with olive oil, rosemary, garlic, lemon rind and salt. Roasted in the oven at 250 degrees, uncovered.

For my “Apple Salad, I just used mixed greens, apple cubes, almonds, dried cranberries and blue cheese.  I topped it with my Cranberry Vinaigrette.  I make lots of salads with fruits and we love them.  

I wanted to appease Alli’s longing for roasted potatoes with rosemary, but had to find a way to make them cook pretty fast once we got home from church.  I cubed the potatoes and left them in water.

When I got home, I drained and then dried the potatoes in a kitchen towel really well,  I then placed them on a baking sheet with olive oil, rosemary and salt.  I roasted them for 20 minutes at 425 degrees.  It was a nice change from mashed potatoes.

For the Corn Casserole, we had to make up our own creamed corn first (so much better than canned cream corn!)  Melt 1/2 stick of butter then add your corn.  Pour in half and half (I used fat free), or whipping cream.  Cook until slightly thickened.

Creaming the corn

Completed Corn casserole.  So good!

Corn Casserole

 Ingredients
(15 oz) can whole kernel corn, drained
1 (15 oz) can cream-style corn
1 package Jiffy corn muffin mix (8 oz.)
1 cup sour cream
½ cup butter, melted – used 1/4 C
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese or your favorite

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. mix all ingredients, minus the cheese, together and pour into a greased baking dish. After the casserole has baked for 45 minutes, or is set in the middle and golden brown, sprinkle with cheddar and put it back in the oven. Let the cheese melt, take the casserole out and enjoy.
We made ours the night before and warmed it up before eating.

Buttermilk Oat Rolls

Buttermilk Oat Rolls – From Cooking Light
Ingredients
3/4 cup regular oats
1/2 cup boiling water
1 tablespoon sugar
1 package dry yeast (about 2 1/4 teaspoons)
1 1/2 teaspoons sugar
1/4 cup warm water (105° to 115°)
2 1/4 cups bread or all-purpose flour, divided
1/4 cup low-fat buttermilk
1 tablespoon stick margarine or butter, melted
3/4 teaspoon salt
Cooking spray
1 tablespoon water
1 large egg white, lightly beaten
1 tablespoon regular oats

Preparation

Combine first 3 ingredients in a small bowl, stirring until well-blended. Let stand 5 minutes.
Dissolve yeast and 1 1/2 teaspoons sugar in warm water in a large bowl; let stand 5 minutes. Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Add oat mixture, 1 3/4 cups flour, buttermilk, margarine, and salt to yeast mixture, stirring to form a soft dough. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Knead until smooth and elastic (about 8 minutes); add enough of remaining flour, 1 tablespoon at a time, to prevent dough from sticking to hands. (Dough will be slightly sticky).
Place dough in a large bowl coated with cooking spray, turning to coat top. Cover and let rise in a warm place (85°), free from drafts, 45 minutes or until doubled in bulk. Punch dough down; cover and let rest 5 minutes. Divide dough into 12 equal portions. Working with 1 portion at a time (cover remaining dough to keep from drying), shape each into a ball. Place balls in a 9-inch square baking pan coated with cooking spray. Cover and let rise 30 minutes or until doubled in bulk.
Preheat oven to 375°.
Uncover the dough. Combine 1 tablespoon water and egg white; brush over dough. Sprinkle dough with 1 tablespoon oats. Bake at 375° for 25 minutes or until lightly browned. Serve warm.

I love these fall plates.  I am always so glad when autumn comes and I can pull these beauties out!

We had a full weekend – in every sense of the word!  How was yours?  What was cooking in your kitchen?

From my country kitchen,

How many times a day do you use your cell phone? How many times do you put your hands on it? How often do you hear a notification, ring or message alert? For most of us, we probably couldn’t count how often we do any of those things; they are too frequent to tally. For that reason, I’m going to turn our attention to our cell phones as an item that could use some refreshing.

This is a picture of my phone, taken using the web cam; hence the backward words and symbols. I recently realized I hadn’t changed the home screen picture for a very long time. So, I changed it to one of my recent trip photos – that of a gorgeous fall tree in Vancouver. It’s amazing to me how doing something so simple can refresh the phone and make it look brand new! I love looking at the new picture! Since we use our phones so much, why not put something on the home screen that we love seeing? When was the last time you updated your screen picture? Maybe it’s time for a change.

The other thing I recently updated was my phone ring. Granted, I did have to get used to the sound to realize, “Oh, that’s my phone ringing!,” but it’s a nice change. I try to use a ring that will also refresh rather than stress other people out when they hear it! Some of those “rings” are OBNOXIOUS! It’s something we should consider when we choose a notification alert. Just sayin’.

The last thing your phone might need is a good cleaning. Wiping the back cover off with a Lysol wipe is a good idea. I use a fiber cloth on the front screen to get rid of all the fingerprints.

Wow! Those simple changes made my look like a new phone! Refresh your phone, then text and tell me so I can look at my new home screen picture!

See you in church Sunday!

Be refreshed,