Show Yourself Friendly

February 24, 2015March 13, 2015 RefreshHer8 Comments

Our world teaches us how to be:

Budget-Friendly Pet-Friendly

Eco-Friendly Kid-Friendly

But the Bible teaches us to be People-friendly. In truth, it’s pretty easy to be Budget-friendly (spend wisely), Pet-friendly (create spaces Fido and Fluffy will love), Eco-friendly (treat the earth well) and Kid-friendly (give children foods they’ll eat). But sometimes coming up with ways to be just plain ol’ friendly to another human being stumps us!

In a world that drives up the driveway, pushes the garage door open, closes it quickly, and goes inside before anyone sees a real, live person getting out of the car, being friendly can be uncomfortable. However, if we love the Lord Jesus and desire to be like Him, we won’t avoid people; we’ll look for ways to minister to them.

Proverbs 18:24

A man that hath friends must shew himself friendly:

Not – Should, might, or maybe, but MUST shew himself friendly.

How could you and I show or prove our friendliness today?

Reach out – Make contact. Smile. Give a hug. Send a text. Make a call. Send a card. An unfriendly person will turn and go the other direction to avoid others.
Give out – Give of your time – make a visit. Give of your possessions – provide a need. An unfriendly person will only see their own needs. If they do see the needs of someone else, they’ll dismiss the thought of helping.
Speak out – Use your words to be a blessing. Give a greeting at church to the visitor you don’t know. Stop to chat and get acquainted. Speak with the stranger in the grocery store. Don’t be afraid to engage in conversation. An unfriendly person only speaks to people that makes them feel comfortable.

Now, you evaluate – are you friendly? What could you do to change that today? The Lord will help you! Philippians 4:13

Don't wait for people to be friendly, show them how. ~Author Unknown

John 13:35 – By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.

Will others know by watching us that we are Christ’s followers? Open more than your garage door – open your heart’s door to someone today and show the love of Christ to them!

How has someone recently shown friendliness to you?

With love,

Uncategorized

What’s Cookin’ in the Country?

February 23, 2015March 13, 2015 RefreshHer14 Comments

In the Old days women made amazing Sunday dinners that included yummy fixings like Fried Chicken with mashed potatoes and white, cream gravy. But also in the old days, everyone had to wait until 2:00 to eat dinner! Most of us are starving when we get home from church, and if dinner isn’t on the table in thirty minutes, people at my house start snacking!

Lucky for me, years ago I found a recipe from Carnation Evaporated Milk that is called, Baked Chicken that Makes it own Gravy! No need to stand and fry chicken pieces after church – this dish is baked in the oven, topped with a Cream soup mixture and baked a little longer, yielding a lovely creamy gravy – perfect for those mashed potatoes that were cooked in the crock pot!

Here’s my menu for yesterday:

Baked Chicken that Makes its own Gravy

Mashed Potatoes ~ ~ Honey-Glazed Carrots

Salad ~ ~ Make-ahead Butterhorns

Light Chocolate Pie ~ ~ Laura Bush’s Texas Buttermilk Coconut Pie

Baked Chicken & Gravy

3 to 3 1/2 lb. frying chicken pieces
1/4 c. flour
1/4 c. melted butter
2/3 c. (small can) undiluted Carnation Evaporated Milk
10 1/2 oz. can cream mushroom soup
1 c. grated process American cheese – I don’t add this – I don’t feel like it’s needed.
1/2 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. pepper
2 c. (1 lb. can) drained whole onions – I love onions, but I don’t add this either!
1/4 lb. sliced mushrooms
Dash paprika

Coat chicken with flour. Arrange in single layer with skin down in melted butter in 13 x 9 x 2 inch baking dish. Bake uncovered in moderately hot oven (425 degrees) for 30 minutes. Turn chicken, bake until brown, 15 to 20 minutes longer or until tender. Remove from oven; reduce temperature to 325 degrees. Pour off excess fat. Add onions and mushrooms to chicken. Combine Carnation, soup, cheese, salt and pepper. Pour over chicken. Sprinkle with paprika. Cover with foil. Return to oven, continue baking 15 to 20 minutes. I found it helpful to add some chicken broth as it’s baking. It needs a little more liquid to keep from getting dry, and I love the the addition of the chicken broth to the gravy!

Crock Pot Mashed Potatoes

Peel potatoes and place in crock pot with water to cover. Add salt. Cook on high for several hours ( I do it on high for about 3 hours, then allow my cooker to move to low for the next couple hours until I get home). Drain water and mash as normal.

This was a pretty heavy meal in my book, but I was feeding a some young people who I thought would appreciate old fashioned kind of cooking! They don’t have to know how easy it was to put together! Shhhhhhh. If you’re a chicken and mashed potatoes kind of girl you need to try this recipe! Your grandma will be proud!

What recipe of your Grandma’s carries special memories?

With love from my country kitchen,

Cooking

Freshen Up Friday

February 20, 2015February 19, 2015 RefreshHer7 Comments

I’ll never forget when my great Aunt from England came to live with us when I was in high school. What a delicious year we had! You see, she was a professional baker and she could get in the kitchen and create some really tasty treats! She made

Eccles Cakes…

Palmiers

and lovely birthday cakes while she stayed with us. Oh. my. goodness! It was heavenly.

The other “heavenly” part of her baking was the cloud of flour that she left behind! She was a true artist in her work! White flour flew when she baked!

Guess what? I really take after my aunt! No, I can’t bake like she did, but I have inherited her flour-flying trait! When I bake, I make a mess!!!

However, there is a tool that comes to my rescue…it’s my Bar Scraper. It can take my mess and pull it together so that it can then be lifted by the thin scraper and dumped into the trash can. It so much easier than trying to wipe it up with the dish cloth!

Every kitchen needs this tool! It keeps you from making paste on your counter top! You can pick one up in lots of places – I’ve seen them at TJ Maxx and kitchen stores.

Target has this one for $7.99

Cake Boss Bench Scrape

Refresh your kitchen – If you bake – not just professionally like my aunt, but if you bake at all – you will love having a bar scraper! It will save your kitchen from heavenly clouds of flour piling up on the counters and floor!

Are you a messy baker? What’s your favorite tool to help you in the kitchen?

Find your way to a Bible preaching church Sunday!

Stay refreshed,

Marriage

Every Day Kind of Love

February 19, 2015February 18, 2015 RefreshHer9 Comments

There are 364 days that are not Valentine’s Day But I love the way the Valentine’s Day kind of love shows up around my house nearly every day (we’re far from perfect, nor is our marriage!). So yeah, sometimes ugly things creep in our door, but it’s our goal to make our marriage a priority every day. It’s done because of the little things. Let me show you what I mean.

See this little pink teddy bear? He shows up (as does his counterpart who happens to be purple) in all sorts of places.

When either my husband or I find this little guy tucked away, it’s an unwritten note that says, “I love you!” No words have to be spoken, no note jotted. It was purposefully hidden in a place that the other would find it so they might know they were being thought of. I’ve found this little bear in my measuring cups, beside my toothbrush, inside my suitcase, in a dresser drawer, and here on my make up brush… and all kinds of other fun places. A package of those little fuzzy bears is minuscule. I got ours at Hobby Lobby years ago. It’s been an investment in our marriage that costs little, but has paid un-measurable dividends!

Another thing we do is laugh. It’s easy to take life and yourself so seriously that you spoil the joy of the little things. The Lord says that Laughter is good medicine (Proverbs 17:22)! So, we laugh…

Now you can laugh, too! Cute, aren’t we? These make for hilarious stops at red lights! We laugh, and the people in the car beside us can smile with us!

We also do what my chalkboard says, we try to enjoy the little things.

This was lunch this week on one of our snow-days. We moved the table next to the fire, turned on Andy Griffith and laughed our way through lunch while we enjoyed the comfort of the fire, a simple meal, and one another’s company.

We were given a gift certificate at Christmastime for a great restaurant in our area. We had tucked it away for a date night, then we learned that Monday nights in February was “Buy a meal, get one free!” Our date nights often consist of great things that cost little – or in this case nothing! It wasn’t Valentine’s night, but when you celebrate Valentine’s all through the year, it really doesn’t matter what night you go out!

It’s all the day-to-day expressions of love that make a marriage more than average. Even when you do have one of those occasional “not-so-good” days, you’re still in love, and can overcome evil with good and keep rolling on towards the “Happily Ever After” kind of relationship that the Lord intended – even when it’s NOT Valentine’s Day!

What do you and your spouse do to keep laughing and having fun? Maybe you need a pair of those cute glasses or a little fuzzy bear to perk things up!

With love,

Uncategorized

A Peek From My Porch

February 18, 2015February 19, 2015 RefreshHer6 Comments

Last weekend we had our Mission’s conference at church. I was blessed to get to host dinner at our house for one of our missionary families on Sunday. Since it was Valentine’s weekend I tried to reflect that in my table setting and food.

I wanted to make a special dessert that I’d found on Pinterest recently. The recipe was Salted Caramel Cheesecakes from The Rustic Willow Food blog. What could be more “Valentines-y” than Cheesecake wrapped in a red wrapper?!

I tweaked the recipe a little, but it’s great which ever way you do it! You can’t go wrong with cheesecake, caramel and chocolate, right? I like this miniature version, because it’s not as intimidating to make as a whole cheesecake that can crack down the middle. These are pretty much fool proof.

Here’s her recipe:

Salted Caramel Cheesecakes

INGREDIENTS:
1 cup graham cracker crumbs
4 tablespoons granulated sugar
4 tablespoons butter, melted
2 packages 8 oz. cream cheesed, softened
4 tablespoons granulated sugar
4 tablespoons milk
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
salted caramel – Here’s my recipe that I used instead.of the purchased sauce
semi-sweet chocolate chips
walnut morsels

INSTRUCTIONS
Heat oven to 350–place 12 cupcake wrappers in muffin pan
Mix graham cracker crumbs, 4 tablespoons sugar and butter in a bowl until all crumbs are covered in butter
Distribute mixture evenly across all wrappers (about 1 tablespoon each)
Press down on crumbs and form a tight base in each one
Bake for 5 minutes–take out and let cool while making cheesecake filling
Add cream cheese, 4 tablespoons sugar, and milk in a mixer
Mix on low setting until well-combined, pushing down edges as needed
Add vanilla and mix for 30 more seconds
Distribute cheesecake filling across all 12 wrappers
Bake for 15-18 minutes
Take out and let cool on counter for 1 hour
Add 1 tablespoon of salted caramel to each cheesecake
Sprinkle with chocolate chips and walnuts
Refrigerate for 2 hours

I love the pretty cupcake wrappers. They added a lovely touch to an already pretty dessert!

You need to try these; they’re super simple and so de-lish! Did you make a special dessert for Valentine’s Day?

With love from my country porch,