We had a lovely weekend with the weather cooling down enough to make me suspect that fall is creeping into my neighborhood and hiding out somewhere.  It was cool enough at suppertime Saturday to enjoy eating out on the deck – something we haven’t done in many weeks because of the extreme heat.  The menu was a perfect summertime meal –

Dry Rub Chicken with Honey Barbecue Sauce

1- 3 lb chicken, cut up
1 tablespoon paprika

Preparation

1. To prepare chicken, remove and discard giblets and neck from chicken. Rinse chicken with cold water; pat dry. Trim excess fat. Place chicken, breast side down, on a cutting surface. Cut chicken in half lengthwise along backbone (do not cut through breastbone). Turn chicken over. Starting at neck cavity, loosen skin from the breast and drumsticks by inserting fingers, gently pushing between skin and meat.
2. Combine paprika and next 4 ingredients (paprika through seasoned salt). Rub paprika mixture under loosened skin, and rub over breast and drumsticks. Gently press skin to secure. Cut a 1-inch slit in skin at the bottom of each breast half; insert tips of drumsticks into slits.
3. To prepare grill for indirect grilling, place a disposable aluminum foil pan in grill; pour water in pan. Arrange charcoal around pan; heat to medium. Coat grill rack with cooking spray; place rack on grill. Place chicken, breast side down, on grill rack over foil pan. Cover and grill 1 hour and 30 minutes or until a thermometer registers 180°. Remove chicken from grill; place on a clean cutting surface. Cover with foil, and let stand 5 minutes.
4. To prepare sauce, combine ketchup and the remaining ingredients in a small saucepan. Bring the sauce to a simmer over medium-low heat; cook 15 minutes, stirring frequently. Remove skin from the chicken, and brush with 1/3 cup sauce. Serve the remaining sauce with the chicken.

Crash Hot Sweet Potatoes

You can click on the link to find the sweet potato recipe.  The layout of the recipe is cut up and not really printer friendly.  The best thing to do is prop your computer up on the kitchen counter and start cooking!  The potatoes were really good.  They have a little kick of heat on them that I loved!  You could reduce that if you don’t care for spicy foods.

I made a dessert for the weekend that was a new recipe for me – Café au Lait Angel Food Cake. It’s Angel food cake with coffee flavoring!  Yum!   Knowing that angel food takes lots of eggs, I thought about the fact that I can buy eggs for ninety-nine cents.   That’s a pretty reasonable price for dessert!  This was very easy to make and turned out delicious!  The recipe on Cooking Light has a custard sauce to go with it, but I didn’t add that.. I served it with a scoop of ice cream, a drizzle of chocolate sauce and a chocolate espresso bean as garnish!  Yum!

Café au Lait Angel Food Cake

What’s been cooking in your kitchen?

From my parsonage kitchen,

I love Panera Bread!  Recently I shared a yummy Strawberry Poppy Seed Salad there with my hubby.  It was sooooo good!  I love their menu, but it can be a bit pricey. 

I got so hungry for that salad this week, and when I looked in my fridge, I realized I had almost everything on hand that they put in that dish, so I decided to recreate it for our evening meal. It was so good and we didn’t even have to leave home!  With all the good fruits and grilled chicken, the meal was refreshing, and making it at home refreshed my pocketbook!  Want to try it?

To make it you’ll need:

Salad greens
Blueberries
Strawberries
Toasted Pecans (I used walnuts)
Mandarin Oranges (I didn’t have any, but it was still good!)
Chicken

I grilled chicken using this recipe, but you could use rotisserie or roasted chicken, if you wanted. 
Poppy Seed Dressing

I’ve been thinking a lot recently about getting old.  Maybe it’s my September birthday breathing down my neck; I don’t know.  It’s made me watch older folks around me.  Some are suffering with physical issues, seen in their difficulty to walk, breathe, or talk.  Some are spunky and seemingly full of energy.  Others still have lost their ability to think rationally.  It’s made me wonder what I’ll be like when I reach those “golden years.”  It’s all in God’s sovereign hands.

I may not have control over what happens to my body or mind, but one thing I can control is how I finish the race spiritually.  As I’m reading through I Kings, I’m reading about the end of many men’s lives.  Solomon, who started out his early years loving God and serving him, ended up an idolater because his wives turned his heart from his God.   His end was weaker than his beginning.  Is that what God desires?  Of course not.  Is it possible to keep the faith all the years of our life?  Absolutely!  David walked in the Lord’s ways even after falling into sin.  He encourages my  heart! I want to be like the passage in Psalm 92 that says,

I wanted a centerpiece for my kitchen table last week, so I went out to the herb garden and did some clipping to make the arrangements pictured here.  The fragrance was wonderful!  I included rosemary, thyme, sage and Knock-Out Roses.  The next morning I also added some of the purple phlox that are so fragrant.  This stayed fresh for several days and was such a pretty pop of color and fragrance on my table. 

The picture below is the same arrangement taken with the “Retro Camera” app on my phone.  I like the way it makes it look kind of frosted (though I’m sure thankful it’s not cold enough to do that!).

Sometimes all you need is a walk around the yard to create something pretty for inside.

Take a walk around with a pair of clippers and see what you can find to spruce up the dinner table for tonight. Who says company has to be coming to have a pretty table? Let your family know they’re special!

From my parsonage windows,

It was a really strange feeling to find out just recently that someone on Facebook had taken my name, my picture, and even slipped up on some of my contacts asking them to befriend them again.  I’m thankful for a friend who alerted me, making it possible for me to report it and get the “new account” blocked and stopped.

After being alerted of this news, I checked the other Denise’s account.  The page had my picture, but nothing else.  There was no timeline of my travels, no connections with others, no information about me, thank the Lord.  They had my name and my picture, but it seems that is it. They even misspelled my name!  It was obvious that they don’t know me, but were only pretending that they did.

I’ve thought a lot about that through the night.  In a spiritual light, we that have trusted Christ as our Savior, have taken on His identity.   We announced that to the world when we were baptized after salvation.  We should be less and less of who we were before salvation, and more and more of Christ each day we live.  I’m afraid, too often, it’s like my impostor, we take on the identity, but we don’t go to the effort to really know Christ. 

If someone were to look at our account, would the page be fairly empty or would it have a “timeline” of activity?  Would it show pictures of those we spoke to about our Savior?  Would it mark the places we went to serve?  Would it be full of God’s Words because we  know Him so well? 

I’m certainly not thrilled at someone pretending to be me, but I am thankful for the reminder that when I say I’m a Christian, others will see by what flows out of my life if I really know Him or not.  Let’s not be impostors – let’s be truly identified with Christ and come to know Him better every day!

You won’t drift into growth; it must be intentional. What did you do today to come to know your Savior better?

With love,

The real   =)