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had never had an impure thought
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had never said an unloving word
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had never done a deed with impure motives
- had never responded in anger
- had never desired a wrong thing
A Peek Inside the Parsonage
Having an office at home is what my husband has done for most of his ministry life. It’s truly a blessing – well, most of the time. The drawback is that it’s always calling his name and drawing him in to “finish up the details of a sermon” or “send a quick email.”
Have you ever noticed how easy it is to live in the same house with someone, yet spend very little quality time together? Oh, you eat meals at the table and chat about the day’s events, but sometimes it’s necessary to stop all the other activity – including those little details in the office, and just do something fun together!
Monday night I decided to do something we never do – eat our homemade pizza in the living room.We did so with the candelabra lit and music playing. It was great. Afterwards we pulled out the Scrabble tiles and played a game of Take Two (we play it kind of like they do in this link). I won the round we played, but that’s not what made it fun – it was just the time we shared together hunkered over the coffee table, moaning about the letters we’d drawn or asking questions like, “How do you spell…?”
We may have had a total of an hour given to dinner, dishes, and our game, but it was also a time to reconnect and remember that there’s more than just ministry that goes on here in the parsonage – there’s a relationship to strengthen and a marriage that needs keeping tabs on! The details on that sermon do indeed get finished, and the emails all sent on their way, but it’s the “stuff” that happens in-between that make me extra happy to share the parsonage with my parson!
From the windows of the parsonage,
Behave Yourself
What’s Cookin’ in the Parsonage?
It’s November – the time for turkey with cranberries. I guess that’s what’s been on my mind, because my recent recipes have been filled with them! They have such a fresh pungent taste that adds so much flavor to a recipe. Why wouldn’t I love them?!
One new dish I made for dinner is – Cranberry Chicken. It’s one I pinned on Pinterest – along with a bunch more ideas of what to do with boneless chicken breasts. The great thing is that it cooks up very quickly. It was nice and moist since it finishes cooking in the sauce.
Hands-On Time: 10 minutes
Ready In: 20 minutes
Yield: 4 servings
Cost per serving: $1.00
Ingredients
1 Tablespoon cooking oil
4 boneless, skinless chicken breast fillets (Note below)
1 cup sweetened dried cranberries
1/2 cup apple juice – I had orange juice, so that’s what I used instead – it worked great!
1/2 cup chicken stock
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon Kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon coarse-grind black pepper
1 Tablespoon Dijon mustard
Directions:
- Combine cranberries, apple juice and chicken stock in a small bowl. Set aside.
- In a gallon-sized plastic bag with zip top, mix flour, salt and pepper. Toss chicken breasts into bag and shake well until each breast is coated evenly with flour.
- Heat oil in a medium skillet over medium-high heat. Once oil is hot add chicken and cook for 5 minutes each side. Remove chicken to a plate and keep warm.
- Pour soaked cranberries with juice and stock into the hot pan, reduce heat to low and scrape up any browned bits on the bottom of the pan. Stir in mustard and add chicken back into pan.
- Cook for another 8-10 minutes or until chicken is no longer pink and sauce has thickened. Serve chicken with sauce atop.
Note: Breast fillets are simply chicken breasts that have been cut horizontally to be thinner and cook quicker.
Another new recipe I tried this week was a quick and light dessert – Cranberry and Apple Crumble – from Cooking Light. Oh, my! This was so good, and only 211 calories and 6 gms of fat per serving!
Ingredients:
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
Preparation
- Preheat oven to 375°.
- Lightly spoon flour into a dry measuring cup; level with a knife. Combine flour, 1/4 cup granulated sugar, brown sugar, and butter in a food processor; pulse 10 times or until mixture resembles coarse meal.
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| This is how it looks before getting popped into the oven |
3. Combine apple and cranberries in a large bowl. Combine juice and remaining ingredients; pour over apple mixture. Toss well. Spoon apple mixture into a 2-quart baking dish. Sprinkle with flour mixture. Bake at 375° for 40 minutes or until bubbly and golden brown. Serve warm.
Honey-Wheat Rolls
1 cup warm water
2 pkgs. yeast
1 3/4 cup water
1/4 Cup honey
1 tsp salt
1 stick butter, melted and cooled
3 eggs
4 cups whole wheat flour (maybe a little more)
4 cups bread flour (maybe a little more)
Mix yeast in warm water. You can add a couple teaspoons of sugar, if desired (sugar helps give the yeast a little boost in rising). In a large bowl add the honey and the 1 3/4 cup water and mix. Stir in the butter. In separate bowl, beat eggs and add one at a time to water and honey mixture. Add flours and mix in enough flour until the dough isn’t sticky.
Place dough into an oiled bowl, turning dough over to coat both sides with oil. Cover and let rise until doubled, about 1 hour. Roll out onto floured surface and cut into 2 dozen rolls. Cover and rise again.
Bake at 375 degrees for 15 minutes, or until lightly browned. Brush with honey butter.
Have you been using any seasonal foods like cranberries or pumpkin to make new dishes? I’d love to hear about it – either here on or the RefreshHer Facebook Page!
From my parsonage kitchen,
Freshen Up Friday
Getting dressed can be stressful. Well, I guess it’s not the putting on of clothes that brings the stress – it’s deciding what to wear. You know what I mean – trying to decide: This shoe or this one? (Ever do the flamingo thing where you pick up one foot and then the other, trying to get a picture of which one is better?) Or you may wonder if the colors or patterns you’ve put on really go together.
I’ve found a little way to make the deciding a bit easier. I step back from the full length mirror and snap a picture on my phone. Even if you can’t take a picture on your phone, if you have a digital camera, that will work just as well. Take a picture of the two things you’re trying to decided on. Like this:
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| See Liza? She’s always right there to give her opinion! |
Then once you’ve taken the pictures, look at the first, then the second. I’ve found that seeing it quickly in front of me – going back and forth from the first picture to the second – really gives me an idea of which choice is better.
Freshen up your outfits by taking a (careful) chance. Seeing them like this really helps with the decision making!
See you in church Sunday!
Be refreshed,
P.S. Which jacket did I choose? The solid black. Too much going on with the other one!









