Aren’t cell phones great?  I had no idea how often I used  my phone until I left it plugged into an outlet at home. Yeah.  I realized the mistake when I was too far to turn back and get it.  “I’ll be fine for a couple hours without it” I thought.  I’m just doing a little shopping.  Ha!

I stepped into the grocery store. I needed to check that I had all the ingredients for a recipe on Pinterest, but without my phone I couldn’t do that.

I always keep a running balance on the calculator on my phone, but without my phone I couldn’t do that.

I thought of sending a picture of an item I found that I knew my daughter would be interested in, but without my phone I couldn’t do that.

My store loyalty card is on my phone, but without my phone I couldn’t use it.

I was going to check the time, but without my phone I couldn’t do that either.

On and on it went until I was reunited with my Android several hours later.  Wow! I use my phone a lot!

Sunday at church I heard my husband say, “You know Scripture; you memorize Scripture, but do you use Scripture?”  Good question.  It has made me really stop and consider whether I handle Scripture as often as I do my phone?  We can think ourselves doing pretty well because we’ve had our devotions today and maybe even memorized a verse.  We set our Bible on its shelf, and go our merry way, forgetting to take it with us so that we might use it all day long!

What would using the Bible look like?  If we would USE Scripture each day, we would:

I’m asking the Lord to help me to use Scripture better and more frequently, rather than letting it sit dormant on my heart.  It’s always charged and ready to apply.  I just need to use it more often!

How are you doing at using the Scripture you know?  

Recently my sister sent me a text asking me if I had a good Beef Enchilada recipe.  It was then that I realized that I haven’t shared my favorite recipe for beef enchiladas here!  Gasp!  How could that be?  I’ve been making these for years! Now,  I realize I’ve been sharing lots of Mexican recipes recently, but that’s what we’ve craved, and that’s what I’ve fixed!  Seriously, though, this recipe is a great one because it’s inexpensive and packed full of flavor.  I served these recently with Spanish Rice and a Salad and it made a great meal.

Beef Enchildads

I whipped up two of these in a matter of 30 minutes.  I made one for us, since company was coming, then I made another for my neighbors.  It’s just a great little cake – and in my opinion, SO much better than Pineapple Upside Down Cake!

Browned sugar, apples and nuts go into the bottom of the pan, then the batter is made and goes on top.

After coming out of the oven, the cake is cooled ten minutes, then inverted. Pray =) then invert onto platter.

Apple Upside-Down Cake
Ingredients
Topping:
Cooking spray
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup water
3 cups (1/4-inch-thick) slices peeled Rome apples (about 2 large)
1/4 cup chopped walnuts
Cake:
5.3 ounces cake flour (about 1 1/3 cups)
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup sugar
3 tablespoons butter, softened
2 large egg yolks
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup 1% low-fat milk
3 large egg whites
Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 350°. Coat a 9-inch round cake pan with cooking spray.

2. To prepare topping, combine 3/4 cup sugar and 1/4 cup water in a small heavy saucepan over medium-high heat; cook until sugar dissolves, stirring gently as needed to dissolve sugar evenly (about 3 minutes). Continue cooking for 4 minutes or until golden (do not stir). Immediately pour into prepared cake pan, tipping quickly to coat bottom of pan. Arrange apple slices in concentric circles in pan over the warm caramel. Sprinkle with nuts; set aside.

3. To prepare cake, weigh or lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour, baking powder, and salt; stir with a whisk.

4. Combine 2/3 cup sugar and butter in a large bowl; beat with a mixer at medium speed until light and fluffy. Add egg yolks and vanilla to sugar mixture; beat until combined. Add flour mixture and milk alternately to sugar mixture, beginning and ending with flour mixture; mix after each addition.

5. Place egg whites in a large, clean bowl. Beat egg whites with mixer at high speed until stiff peaks form using clean, dry beaters. Gently fold egg whites into batter. Spread batter over apples. Bake at 350° for 35 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack in pan for 5 minutes. Loosen edges of cake with a knife; invert cake onto a serving plate. Serve warm or at room temperature.

So, which of these recipes will you try?  How about both?  Let me know how it goes!

With love from my country kitchen,

Maybe your family has pancakes every Saturday because that’s your tradition.  Great.  Maybe you have pancakes or cereal or Toaster Strudels because that’s your routine.  Getting stuck in a routine can drag you down and quite frankly, get boring.  So, to fix that, and to freshen up your family this  weekend, how about doing something special for Saturday breakfast?  Here are a few ideas:

Pumpkin Granola

Overnight Creme’ Brulee’ French Toast

Apple Oatmeal Breakfast Bars

I’m planning on trying the Pumpkin Granola because it’s been my routine to make my recipe every week.  We need something a little different.  I’ll let you know how it turns out!

Stay refreshed!

Here’s a close-up look…

Chalkboards don’t look “perfect,” clean or necessarily neat, but I think one adds to the homeyness of a place.  It just says,

So, if you come visit me, please do!

With love from my country porch,

Yesterday we left the work that was calling for our attention and headed towards the mountains.  Rains are promised this week, and we wanted desperately to drive through the colored majesty of the higher elevation.  It was glorious.  No camera will picture what we viewed with our eyes.  It will attempt, but it will not do it justice.  It was majestic and awesome because it was painted with the brush strokes of our Creator.

Photo un-edited!

I enjoyed the beauty of the drive, but to me the best part was being together and alone for a few hours with the man who owns my heart.  Life and ministry can be so demanding, and it’s very easy to let that run our days, weeks and months without taking time to slow down for just a little while and “be.”  We can both so easily run on our own single track of busyness, to-do lists and other people, that we have to determine to make time to be a couple.  We need the opportunity to be together.  To be “us” instead of  “me.”

Slowing down for time for an “Us-ie”!  =)

 We enjoyed a shared lunch at a little bakery in a small town we love.  We listened to bluegrass music in the car.  We laughed and talked and held hands and enjoyed time as a couple as we meandered across the mountain roads.  We came home refreshed in our bodies, our hearts, and our relationship.  And though I’m writing this post later than I normally would because we were away most of the day, it’s okay because the knitting of our hearts makes everything better.

Do you need to schedule an “us” day for you and your husband?  Write it into the calendar for a day in the near future.  It probably won’t just “happen” on its own.  Plan it.  Then you’ll have something to look forward to during the crazy days.  Your marriage is worth that effort it will take to make it happen!

How do you plan for time together with your spouse?

With love,