Allison, our 18 year-old, is now at The Wilds for staff training week. She will spend the summer waitressing there. Her three weeks of rest are over and her bedroom is once again packed up, quiet and very empty. That’s okay – I’d so much rather have her at a place like The Wilds all summer than here with me. What a blessing to know the opportunities she’ll have to serve the Lord, as well as learn. I’m excited about that and can’t wait to hear what God is doing in her life!

While she was home she put in many requests for her favorite foods that she’d missed while she was in college. One of the many requests were for muffins – Strawberry Muffins and Blueberry muffins. I made the blueberry ones to have as a quick breakfast the morning we headed to camp. They are so good. If you like blueberries, you need to make this recipe! My sister shared this with me years ago and it’s my favorite blueberry muffin.

Mix:
1 Box White Cake mix
2 Tbl. flour
1 tsp baking soda

In another bowl, mix:
2/3 C milk
1/3 C oil
3 eggs

Add liquid mixture to dry mixture. Add 1 Cup blueberries. Pour into paper lined or greased tins (only fill about 3/4 full). Sprinkle with crumb mixture and bake at 375 degrees for 15-20 minutes. This makes lots of muffins – I make a dozen regular-sized ones and a dozen small ones. If you don’t have a small muffin tin, it would probably make 6-8 more regular sized ones.

Topping:
1/3 Cup flour
1/3 C brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
2 Tbl soft margarine

What’s been cookin’ in your kitchen recently?

With love,

I just love my old copies of the Southern Living Cookbooks. I have a collection of about ten of them and they are my absolute favorites. I’m always finding new recipes! If you find a Southern Living Cookbook on Amazon or at a yard sale I’d say snag it, because their recipes are tried and true. I can’t think of one recipe from their books that I’ve made that we didn’t like.

• Make up a menu at the beginning of the week (this is soooo needful!)
• Choose recipes with few ingredients, quick preparation and easy-to-follow directions.
• One-dish meals are ideal – lasagna, chicken & rice dish, etc.
• Recipes using chicken or seafood are speedy as well as delectable.
• Prepare the recipe the night before, and refrigerate until time to cook or reheat.
• Or prepare part of the recipe ahead, such as a sauce.
• Marinating food overnight adds flavor and requires little effort.
• On weekends or when you have extra time, cook double batches, freezing the extras. All you have to do is defrost foods such as meat sauces, breads, waffles, cookies, cakes, soups and meat loaf in the microwave oven or overnight in the refrigerator; then heat.
• Use the microwave oven for side dishes or reheating.
• Stir-fry meals are convenient when time is short.
• Make salads ahead of time; refrigerate the dressing and other ingredients separately.
• Gather all necessary ingredients and utensils for the recipe you are preparing.
• Clean up as you cook; then you don’t have a big mess left when you’re finished.

I know for women that work full-time, meal prep can be difficult, but these suggestions should help you get a jump start and aid you in getting ahead. If you can begin your preparation early you’ll be that much closer to suppertime after you get home!

Here’s a fruit salad recipe I made this week from one of my Southern Living Cookbooks. The citrus dressing is so good on the fruit.

Fruit Salad with Citrus Dressing

1/4 tsp grated orange rind

2/3 cup orange juice

1/2 tsp grated lemon rind

1/2 cup lemon juice

1/3 cup brown sugar

1 (3 inch) cinnamon stick

1/2 tsp cornstarch

4 oranges, peeled and sliced

2 kiwi, peeled and sliced

2 cups fresh pineapple chunks

1 cup seedless red grapes

2 cups fresh strawberries, sliced

3 bananas, sliced

Combine first 7 ingredients in a small saucepan; bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Boil 1 minutes. Cool.

Combine oranges, kiwi, pineapple and grapes. pour dressing over fruit; cover and chill. Add strawberries and bananas; toss gently. Serve immediately. Yield: 6-8 servings

I used half amounts of the fruit for my family and reserved half of the dressing in a Ziploc bag and put it in the freezer to use another time – an example of having a sauce on hand for a quick salad.

Happy cooking!

Wow! I can’t believe we only have one more month of study in “A Woman After God’s Own Heart.” These eight months have gone so quickly. I pray that you are finding yourself more a woman of prayer, of Bible study, and now of service. The lessons we learned this month were the practical application of all we’ve learned. This is where we put into action all we’ve learned.

Think of a woman you know who you would describe as motivating. She’s exciting to be with, she’s informed, she’s purposefully seeking knowledge. This is a woman who is growing. You come away better after being in her presence. She’s filled to overflowing. Hers is a life of ministry; pouring into the lives of others. II peter 3:18 18 But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen. This is what we all must do – continue to study for the rest of our lives and continue to grow.

Spiritual growth is aided by discipleship. There are several ways to do this:

1. Take a class – Ladies’ Bible study or a correspondence course from a Bible college.
2. Counsel – If you have a problem or question, call up a woman you know is a godly woman and ask her help.
3. Interview – Call up a woman and ask to meet with her one time. Tell her you have a handful of questions to ask her. Get right to the questions; don’t waste her time. Have your questions written down and ready. Spend a couple of hours together and glean from her wisdom.
4. Observation – The hearing ear, and the seeing eye, the LORD hath made even both of them. Prov. 20:12 Look when you’re out, when you’re at church. Look for models; both positive and negative.
5. Read – Read your Bible first. We are to be women of one book – The Book. Read it daily, purposefully, topically. After that, just keep reading godly books. Many authors have put their discipleship into their books. You can be mentored by them just by reading their books! Be selective in what you read. Only 5% of the people in the US will buy or read a book this year! If you could read one book in a year what would it be? Look at your five files and choose a book in one of those categories. Read a little here, a little there. Something is better than nothing.
6. Goals – Write out spiritual lifetime goals. The overflow can’t help but happen when you keep after your goals. “Aim at nothing and you will hit it every single time.” Fifteen minutes of study a day will make one a master on that subject in a dozen years. Reading Proverbs for years will make you a master in the wisdom of this book! Goals provide measurement.
   

7. Choices – We choose take the correspondence course. We choose to meet with an older woman. We choose to read a book. We may have to choose to not take a nap so we can read our Bible. “You cannot kill time without injuring eternity.” We must use our time in priority order. Our spiritual self has to be cared for so there’s something to give away in ministry.
8. Time – But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles. Isa 40:31 – Spend the time growing, developing the under ground time so that you have something to share with others. For 40 years Moses was somebody, then for 40 years he was nobody, and one day, after 80 years, he burst on the scene. Sign, miracles, wonders. It took years in preparation! Joseph spent 10 years as master of his master’s household. He was somebody! Then he was imprisoned for 2-3 years by an unjust accusation. He was nobody. One day, then, he burst on the scene, interpreting dreams, and the ruler of the known world, but it took years of preparation. You and I must also be willing to take the time to go through the preparation so we’ll have something to share with others. No one sees you spending time in the Bible. No one sees you pouring your heart out to God in your secret place. But one day, after years of time with the Lord, you, too, can burst on the scene with a ministry that God can use.

“Success is when preparation meets opportunity.” – Swindoll Who is responsible for the preparation? We are! Who is responsible for the opportunities? God is. We can trust Him to bring to us the opportunities to serve Him. The younger women won’t have to ask, “Where are the older women?” We’ll be ready to be used because we will have A heart for service!

With love,

I love Sunday dinner at home. Even after being gone last week and getting home Friday evening and having my daughter’s boyfriend in for the weekend, I would much rather eat at home than go out! Some questioned why I would cook on vacation. The answer – it isn’t work to me! I made simple meals and even took advantage of being in a place where we could purchase fresh seafood. I’ll have to share one of the shrimp dishes I made. It’s so easy, fast and delicious!

Coming home on Friday gave me time to run to the grocery store and restock the fridge for the weekend. I really hit some good deals at Ingles, thanks to Southern Savers! For instance, I got General Mills cereal for 25 cents a box! I love deals like that!

This Lettuce wedge with the sour cream dressing was a new recipe to me from one of my old Southern Living Cookbooks. It was a refreshing change from tossed salad. You need to try this!

1 cup sour cream (I used light)
1/2 cup mayonnaise (I used light)
2 tsp. vinegar
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp. salt
1/4 cup minced green onions
1/4 cup minced radishes
1/4 cup minced cucumber
1 small clove garlic, minced

Mix and pour over 8 lettuce wedges

Strawberries are my very favorite fruit. This pie is very simple and I love it better than any I’ve tried and have had more success with it than other recipes. It sets up nicely due to the Jell-O you add to the sugar mixture. My friend, Linda, a wonderful cook, shared this with me years ago. It’s also great for a fresh peach pie!

Glaze Filling for Strawberry Pie:
1 cup sugar
2 T. white Karo
3 1/2 Tbl cornstarch
1 cup water
2 heaping Tbl. Jello – Strawberry (or peach for peach pie)

Cook sugar through water over medium heat (medium pan) until thickened, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and add Jello. Cool. Add 1 quart strawberries. Add fruit. Pour into pie shell, and chill. Top with Cool Whip.

That last picture reminds me that there is one tiny piece of pie left over. You know that strawberry pie needs to be eaten within a day or so or the crust will be soggy…excuse me please. I think I hear it calling my name!

What was cookin’ in your kitchen this week?

With love,