Early Spring Time Musings

Lake and his cousin were busy one after noon building crosses. I believe just for fun, but I love it that the cross was on their minds.

Making a Bird Nest:

Violet wanted to make a nest for the birds outside. We have to leave a note for the birds as well, she told me.

As an after thought, I carefully took the nest out by inverting it on top of another bowl and lined the bowl with plastic wrap. So that would be a good idea before you start, to line the bowl with plastic wrap. We were able to get a bunch of thin twigs from an old hydrengia bush. We broke them up into 2-3 inch lengths, line the bowl with them and squirt a bunch of glue all over them, to make our nest. It dried over a couple days and now birdie ready. Gods creation amazes me constantly. All the effort it takes for a make-shift nest, when itie bitie birds make cozy durable ones out of their God given insticts.

The weather is finally getting a bit warmer and less snowy for the kids to be outside more for play.

Birthday cupcakes for less effort than what it looks like.
1 white cake mix
2 oranges, zested and juiced
3 cups of gratted carrots
1 Tbs. cinnamon
canned cream cheese frosting
extra carrot
pecans
green candy coated chocolates
Heat oven to 350, line 2 muffin tins. Prepare cake mix as package directs but submitting the juice of 2 oranges for the water. Add the zest from the 2 oranges. Add 3 cups of grated carrots, and cinnamon. Divide batter into tins. Bake 18 min. After muffins are cooled, frost with canned cream cheese frosting. Sprikle with pecans and carrot peels rolled to look like rosets. Place in the middle of each cupcake with a green candy.

We had to take a long drive to the doctors. But I am thankful for the sights we got to take in on the drive, and even the detour, due to the road washing out.

The mountains snowy tops and the dry fields looked just amazing on this overcast day!

This distorted picture almost looks like a painting.

Delapatated barns are still good for something if only pictures.

/ / Pause Button / /

Deliver us, we pray thee, from the tyranny of trifles. Teach us how to listen to the prompting of thy Spirit, and thus save us from floundering in indecision that wastes time, subtracts from our peace, divides our efficiency, and multiplies our troubles. Amen

-Peter Marshall

 

Some spiritual math there for you. But this quote made me think about what our group was reading about in bible study yesterday, in Matthew chapter 26. The story of the woman pouring the EXPENSIVE perfume over Jesus. It made me think of how logically the disciples were correct in their thinking but also this woman was bang on in her discernment because she was thinking with her faithful heart. So there, in my opinion proves the point that a following believer of Christ doesn't go strictly by rules (legalism) but continually turns to the Lord for direction and discernment. We obey and follow then because we love Him.

Celery Scrub Curtains

 Here are the scrubs

Here is the celery

I was able to turn gently used scrubs into curtain panels. I easily clipped cafe curtain rings on the top of each curtain. I then dabbed my celery bottoms into paint to print flowers on. I saw this idea not too long ago in a magazine and thought it was a really cool idea. I never noticed the pretty pattern of a cut celery bunch before.

I do love pretty decorations, and am fond of decorating magazines, especially a particular one from Britian. And sometimes I can get to thinking quite a bit about how I'd like things to look around my house, or changing things around, making things look fresh, and portray my style. (Don't think for one minute though, that my house is in order and in tip top shape, half  of the time). I thought, that's all nice but that will all be useless or doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things.
And so I do favor looking at new magazines with peoples ideal homes and decorations, it makes me see how important it is to look into Gods Word. To use it to see how I look, and how I contrast.
So what am I getting at? Maybe that pretty is nice to look at, but what really matters is that we work at keeping the heart, mind, and spirit beautiful. By using Gods word as what we use to compare how we live, what we think and say. I've spent the last year reading through the New Testament, with all study notes included. Now that I'm nearing the end, I find myself thinking where should I start again? Start at the beginning in Genesis or Matthew again? Is it odd to just loop back to where I started? And that's when it hit me about the importance of keeping myself in His Word. I don't know this book off by heart, and so I need to be in those pages breathing it all in daily so that I can keep adding to whats in my heart, to grow stronger in Him, that I might represent and reflect Christ through out my life. Maybe like a spring cleaning, Or maybe not. I can find that overwhelming. The Lord wants us to go to Him everyday, and ask for what we need just for the day. And He does provide. A scripture verse, a prayer in our hearts, a quite moment, a song, a loved one, a beautiful view...or outlook!
It is the same with my word.
I send it out, and it always produces fruit.
It will accomplish all I want it to, and it will prosper everywhere I send it.You will live in joy and peace.
The mountains and hills will burst into song,
and the trees of the field will clap their hands!
Isaiah 55:11,12

By the way, I found this great list for doing spring cleaning in 30 Days here. Not so intimidating when its one thing a day. I'm thankful when the Lord puts things in our path that help and compensate. That helps me see how the Lord plans out even the small things to help His children.

Parsnip Cake?

I came across a peculiar recipe which had both words parsnip and cake in the title. I was intrigued, and I happened to come across these veggies on the reduce rack and so I gave the recipe a try. I do find that parsnips can be kinda pricey, so I'm thankful for them being reduced in price.

I had to convert the recipe measurements, to using cups and tablespoon measurements. This is the recipe I followed:

1/2 cup + 2 TB. oil
1/2 cup + 2 TB. brown sugar
1 large egg
1 ripe, mashed banana
2/3 cup flour
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. mixed spice
1/2 cup grated parsnip
1/4 cup + 2TB. chopped, walnuts
For the topping:
1/4 cup butter
5 TB. icing sugar
1/4 pkg. cream cheese (about 1/4 cup)
2 tsp. maple syrup (or maple flavoured syrup works fine)
-Preheat oven to 325. Grease a loaf pan. Whisk the first 3 ingredients. Add the banana. Fold in the dry ingredients, followed by the parsnip and walnuts. Turn into the pan and bake 50-60 min. until done. To make the topping, beat the butter and sugar until fluffy. Beat in the cream cheese, followed by the syrup. Spread over cooled cake.

Take it from a "Parsnip Cake" doubter, its really good. My mom says it reminds her of a cake she ate when she was little, that her mom would get, which was made in England. I told her it was a recipe from a British magazine!

And here is MacMurray, dressed up by Violet, so that he can be her sister, she said. J

He tried walking around a bit but it looked more like a wobble.

Our Daily Bread

This is what I use to make our bread, that we use daily. We use it for breakfast, sandwiches for school lunches and whatever else. It makes three loaves. I adapted my technique and recipe from the book "Artisan Bread In Five Minutes a Day" , which by the way I love this book!

Using a clean large ice cream container works great for mixing and storing the bread. Put the yeast in and add 3 cups og warm water. *Warm enough to hold your finger in.

Add in the oil, once the yeast has dissolved.

  Add salt and sugar

Add your healthy ingredient. I used wheat germ, but I've also added instead: wheat bran, or oatmeal, or ground flax seed. No one will even be able to tell that its in there, except you.

Then the flour.

Mix with a spoon. Your hand will get sticky but no worries just mix it back into the dough. The dough should be quite sticky but not too wet that it has no form. Cover with the lid or plastic wrap or clean towel. Put in a warm place until it has doubled. This could take an hour or more. I usually turn the oven on for a minute to warm it up, turn it off and leave the dough to rise in there.

Take the cover off, see nicely risen dough.

Sprinkle some flour on top, to ease the handling of the dough.

Grab what looks to be one third of the dough.

And shape it into an oval to fit your three, greased loaf pans. Gently pull the side down. Think of it like wrapping a gift. You want the top to look nice and the edges fold to the bottom.

Once they are evenly divided, formed and placed in the pans, sprinkle a little flour on top. Covered with your towel or plastic wrap, again. Rise again for about an hour or until they have risen to your liking. Pre-heat the oven to 350 and bake about 25 min.
Now I'll tell you a mistake I made this time, I was multi-tasking (which can be dangerous for me sometimes) ...(not kidding ) I thought I'd make some English muffins as well. So they were about ready to go in the oven, time to preheat the oven for them. So I did that...while my bread was rising in the oven covered in a towel. Lets just say I'm glad I thought of it before the towel burst into flames! No, it did get really hot, 'cause I smelt the bread starting to bake and the smell of fresh laundry came out of the oven when I opened the oven door! I scared myself, but thankful nothing worse happened. Well needless to say be careful while multi-tasking. And maybe don't take my advice on letting the dough rise in the oven. HE HE HE.

Funny thing though, my honey tells me after work yesterday that, that was the best bread I've made! No kidding!

We ought to hear at least one little song every day, read a good poem, see a first-rate painting, and if possible speak a few sesible words.
-Goethe

...whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable- if anyting is excellent or praiseworthy- think about such things.
Philippians 4:8

Anticipating Spring

Guard well your spare moments. They are like uncut diamonds. Discard them and their value will never be known. Improve them and they will become the brightest gems in a useful life.
-Ralf Waldo Emerson

Some posies to brighten the room.
And a craft to visualize the upcoming of the seemingly distant Spring weather and blooms.

Violet and I cut some branches from the Lilac bush in the back yard. Cut some small squares from tissue paper.

Folded the squares into 4. Hold the folded corner and twist.

Dap glue on ends of the twigs and twist the paper around the gluey twigs.

Looks like blossoms are blooming!

There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven. Ecclesiastes 3:1

Banana Scones

 Having nearly rotten bananas in the house is a common occurrence around here and I know we are not the only home with this situation. But no worries right? Who doesn't love banana bread? But me I love figuring out what else I can do with them. So lately its been Banana Scones. Oh and I love me some scones (muffins too!) I'm on a scone kick lately. You know lemon blueberry, date and spice, maple pecan, strawberry. Well I came across some banana ones and have come up with this one that I modified to my liking. It follows...

2 Bananas, mashed
1/3 cup milk
1/2 cup melted butter or margarine
1/4 cup sugar
1 1/4 cup oatmeal
2 cups flour
1 tbsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 cup chocolate chips
Preheat oven to 425
Mix according to the list. Just until its combined. Divide in half and shape each into 7-8 inch rounds. Cut into 6 pieces, each. Place pieces on greased baking sheets and bake for 12 min.
Breakfast/Snack time- is ready.

Daily duties are daily joys, because they are something which God gives us to offer unto Him, to do to our very best, in acknowledgement of His love. -Pusey

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Philippians 4:13

Easier than you think--Gourmet Chicken Pizza

 To start off its always best to have seasoned salt on hand. It makes everything tastier!
This is the recipe given to me by my mom:
1/4 cup e. salt and paprika
3 tbsp. pepper
1 tbsp. basil
2 tsp. e. garlic pwd. and thyme
1 1/2 tsp. oregano
1 tsp. e. curry pwd. , dried marjoram, cayenne pepper, and celery salt
Mix up and store in a small container.

For the pizza you need:
1 batch of pizza dough (yesterdays recipe here) stretched out on oiled pizza pan.
2 heaping tablespoons of basil pesto (so far I have been using store bought), this is spread over the  dough.
1 to 2 cups of shredded mozzarella cheese sprinkled over the pesto
1 chicken breast which you fry in an oiled cast iron frying pan with as much seasoned salt as you see fit. Cook, until all pink is gone, and then I slice up into bite size pieces. Toss this over the cheese.
1/2 red onion, thinly sliced and pan fried in the hot pan you just used for the chicken. When that has nicely caramelised, toss that evenly on the pizza.
1/2 cup of salsa, which is from the batch I made up this past fall, recipe here. Dollop this over the pie.
Preheat oven to 425, and Bake for 15-20 min.
Its so good, I don't even crave take-out pizza!

First Comes... Dough - Pizza Dough

Awwwwe... The great and multi-purposeful pizza dough! There are many directions one can take with a simple batch of pizza dough. But my all time fav. (lately) is a chicken pizza. The following recipe makes one thick crust, or two small thin crusts.

Virtual Flowers for You

 

Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. 1 Peter 4:8

Overnight Pull-Apart Cinnamon Loaf

I had been wanting to try this recipe for some time now, and am glad I did. It made a really nice start to a -20 something morning for the kids and I. I was basically able to just set it on the table and the kids could pull off what looked like slices. Oh my is was yummy! I got the recipe here .

So here I sit on the eve of my birthday. Which is kinda nice having so close to New Years, because it all makes me think about new beginnings and the desire to start new or fresh on certain things in my life or my families life that could use some improvement. I would like to get into that more some other time and the different things I've done involved in that. But I have really come to the realisation that I have a HARD time adjusting from the high of Christmas. Do I sound like I'm five? I even thought maybe that was why I wanted to make a bigger deal out of Valentines Day last year. But I found I even got to the point where I was questioning myself with: am I depressed? Adjusting is hard for me I guess. I have found the older I get, the more I realise I have a lot to learn about myself. And when I thought about that when I was a lot younger or heard others mention that one needs to learn more about themselves or that we are always learning about ourselves. I would kinda do the raise one eye brow - squint one eye - and screw up my mouth, look and think HU? So I see now how I'm having to always be open to all kinds of learning, even the kind that I don't need to go far at all to learn something new!
O ya so I said...here I sit...

In cozy jammies, the only time polka dots and stripes are ok. And woolly socks, so attractive, aren't they? Who am I kidding, I'm sure husbands could unite on the fact that the cold cold months apparel don't offer much for attractiveness. "Gee honey, you don't like my scratchy socks touching your leg?"
He he. Any ways, I'm slowly getting back into the swing of things. Praise the Lord, I have his word as a warm guiding light always ready to comfort me.
Deuteronomy 31:6 Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord you God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.
Psalm 37:4 Be delighted with the Lord. Then he will give you all your heart's desires.