Amazing Grace

Today we celebrate Memorial Day.  We remember all those who have fought or who are fighting throughout the years.  MANY, many thanks to all who have served in the armed forces of America!  God bless you!

Today I was also thinking about my grandfathers and Michael's grandfathers, all of whom fought in a war, all of whom survived.  When I think about that, I think about our countless family members who are alive today because they survived.

You may think you are free because you live in America. 
You may think you are free because of all those soldiers who fought for our freedom.
But, are you really free?

Freedom is not really FREE.
It comes with a price.

My Lord and Savior paid the highest price for my sin when He gave His life for me so that I may have freedom from God's wrath. 
Amazing grace.

The Bible says in John 8:36 - "If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed. "

There is only One who can make you truly free. 
His name is Jesus. 
Do you know Him?
He can set you free.

Chicken Pie

It is more like Chicken Casserole, but we call it Chicken Pie. 

You will need:
3 chicken breasts
Salt & Pepper
2 cans of Cream of Chicken Soup
Milk
Butter
Pepperridge Farm Cornbread Stuffing

• Boil the chicken breasts until done.
• Shred up the chicken in the bottom of a 9x13 baking dish.
• Salt and Pepper the chicken to taste.
• Empty 2 cans of cream of chicken soup in a bowl.  Pour one of the empty cans full with milk.  Mix together.
• Pour that on top of the chicken.
• Melt 1 stick of butter in a pot.
• Stir cornbread stuffing in with the butter.
• Spread this buttered stuffing on top of the cream of chicken soup mixture.
• Bake in a 350 degree oven for about 30-40 minutes. 
• The buttered stuffing on top will get a little brown - that is when it is done.

You can add veggies to this mix.  I normally add green peas and carrots.  I buy frozen peas and fresh carrots.  I put the peas into a small pot and use a vegetable peeler on the carrots so they are super thin (they cook faster that way).  I put about a half cup of water in there and cook until that is done.  Then, I add it in with the cream of chicken soup mixture.

Enjoy!

Hot Ham and Cheese

Hot Ham and Cheese....  a simple favorite.  But, there's a little more to mine than slapping ham and cheese between bread and toasting it.

You will need: 
Bread
Black Forest deli ham  -  sliced super thin
American Cheese  -  get the white one.  The 'yellow' American cheese is colored with food dye.  And make sure it says 'American Cheese' not 'A product of cheese' on the label.
Butter  -  real, salted butter... not margarine.
Garlic powder
Honey Dijon Mustard
Cast Iron skillet, griddle, or whatever you got that is cast iron.

• Cut your bread a little thicker than a normal slice of bread.  Maybe 1 + 1/4 thick.
• Heat your cast iron on medium.
• Unwrap half of the stick of butter. 
• Smear that on the griddle. 
• Sprinkle a little garlic salt on the butter. 
• Place one slice of bread on top of the butter and garlic salt.
• Spread a thin coating of honey dijon mustard on this slice of bread. 
• Depending on how thick your cheese is sliced, you could use one, two or three slices of cheese. 
• Pile up as much ham as you like on top of the cheese.
• Spread a thin coating of honey dijon mustard on the second slice of bread.
• Place the second slice of bread on top.
• Using a metal spatula, when the first slice of bread is browned and the cheese is melty, pick up the sandwich.
• Smear more butter on the griddle.
• Sprinkle a little more garlic salt on the butter.
• Flip the sandwich over and toast the other side.
• When that side is browned, remove from cast iron.
• Place on your plate and cut in a diagonal shape making two triangles.  Well, okay, you can cut it whatever way you want.
• Enjoy!

Random Happenings

These past couple weeks, the weather has warmed up.  School is finished.  The girls are outside from breakfast until supper!  Here is some pictures of the recent happenings.

Michael has required exercise every week.  He went on a jog with the girls one morning.

Michael went to help some guys clean up around someone's home.  Out in the woods, Michael found some of these HUGE feathers.  The girls had a blast with them.  Michael even inserted the inside of a pen in one of the feathers so that he could do his homework with a feather pen (haha... joking).  He did make a feather pen though.  The girls loved writing with it.

GUESS WHAT!!!!!!!!!!! 

THE ICE-CREAM SHOP OPENED BACK UP!!!!!!!!!!

Hannah playing out on the playground.

We will be serving our summer ministry at the Inn.  We went to check out the places that were options for housing for us.  The girls played at the edge of the pond catching things.

Here is the cabin.

Here are the frogs.

Here is the crawdad that Michael caught.

We had a work day at the Inn.  We cleaned up around the Inn to get ready for the guests.  The girls and I helped out in the nursery.  We cleaned and painted.  The girls helped some, played some and caught another frog.

The Bible Institute had their end of the year Spring Banquet.  It was fun getting dressed up.

Us.

The girls.

And... we found a HUGE turtle walking across the road.

Pepperoni Pizza Twist

This recipe is one of our favorites.  It is an old Pampered Chef recipe from when I was a consultant.  It quickly became a keeper and I have been making this one for quite a few years now.

You can buy pizza dough in a can (blech....) or you can make your own pizza dough and pizza dipping sauce (Y.U.M.).

Make one reicpe of the pizza crust.

Divide your dough in half.

Roll into a long 'stick' shape.

Using a knife, cut about half way through the dough.  Using your fingers, gently pull the dough open and mash it out into a 'trough' shape.

Here is the recipe for the filling:

1 - 3.5 oz. package of pepperonis

1 cup of mozzarella cheese

2 Tablespoons of all purpose flour

1 garlic clove

1 teaspoon of Italian seasoning

You could can change this around to fit your family's favorite toppings.  If you do not use a meat, then omit the all purpose flour.  This flour just soaks up some of the oil.  You could cut back on the cheese also.

Fill the pizza dough 'troughs' with this filling.

Pick up the sides and wrap around the filling and pinch the dough together on top.

Flip the 'sticks' over so the seam is on the bottom.

Arrange in an X pattern to begin with.

'Twist' the ends.

Make a few little slices in the top so the entire thing does not explode.

Sprinkle with a little cheese.  The recipe calls for parmesan, I only have mozzerella - so I used mozzerella.

Bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes.

Serve with pizza sauce.

Fried Chicken Alfredo with WackyMac

I have already posted on how to make the Fried Chicken Nuggets.  Make some of these.

Then, buy a bag of WackyMac.  These are tri-colored veggie noodles.  Cook according to directions on the bag.  The best time to do this is while your nuggets are in the oven.

While you are boiling your noodles, make the alfredo sauce:

1/4 cup of butter
1 cup of heavy cream
1 clove of garlic
1 1/2 cups parmesan cheese
1/4 c. parsley

Put all these ingredients into a pot and heat on medium until it starts to boil slightly.  It is done when all the cheese is melted and it is smooth and creamy. 
Pour over the WackyMac. 

Serve with Fried Chicken Nuggets. 

Y.U.M.!!!  One of my new favorites!!!
I wish I had some pictures to show you.  That would mean that I just made it and was eating some!!!

Lasagna

This is a kind of thrown together sauce and we happened to like it and I tried to remember what I put in it.  Then I wrote it down one day and have made it over and over.  So, I know this one is a keeper in my book.

Sauce:
4 cans of diced tomatoes
3 little cans of tomato paste
1 1/2 cans of tomato sauce
1/4 cup brown sugar
4 dashes of Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon of salt
1 teaspoon of pepper
1 teaspoon of garlic powder
1 Tablespoon of chili powder
1 Tablespoon of minced onions
1 Tablespoon of Italian seasoning
4 Jars of blended spaghetti sauce (whatever you like, roasted garlic, mushroom, etc.)
5 lbs. of browned ground beef

You must let this simmer together for about 1 hour.  This makes all the flavors blend well.

Cook your noodles!!!  Do not put them in your lasagna uncooked!  Cook the noodles according to the directions on the side of the box.  If you happen to know how to make your own noodles, then I think it is safe to assume you know how to cook them too.

In a huge bowl, grate up these cheeses:  8 oz. mozzarella, 8 oz. Parmesan, 8 oz. mild or sharp cheddar, 8 oz. Romano - mix them together well.

It is very important that you buy these in whole blocks of cheese and grate them up yourself.  You will be happy that you did when that ooey gooey yumminess hits your taste buds.  Plus the already grated bagged cheese has sawdust in it to keep it 'fresh'.

Layer in a 9x13 baking dish:  Sauce, Noodles, Cheese, Sauce, Noodles, Cheese.  The last layer of cheese should cover the noodles completely or the noodles will get super crunchy and super crunchy noodles do not make a yummy lasagna.

Bake in a 350 degree oven for about 45 minutes or until the cheese has little brown bubbles on top. 

Enjoy!

Five Friday Food Favorites

1.  Lasagna
2.  Fried Chicken Alfredo & WackyMac
3.  Pepperoni Pizza Twist
4.  Hot Ham & Cheese
5.  Chicken Pie

My plans are to share these recipes to you next week beginning with #1 on Monday and working my way through Friday.  You may or may not be seeing pictures to go along with these recipes.  We are in the process of packing up to move to the Word Of Life Inn for Michael's summer ministry and we are eating up the last morsels of food in the cabin.  So, even though I will be sharing these recipes, I may not be preparing all of them.

Breakfast Biscuits

... or any time of the day.

As promised months ago (I bet you forgot about them didn't you?), here are the biscuits we have been CRAZY about.  When you see the pictures, you will understand why I have not posted this before now.  I normally make these when everyone is asleep.  But, just special for you today, I made these while Hannah was awake.  She helped me with the photos since my hands were pretty sticky.

WARNING:  These biscuits contain shortening (gasp!).  I know... I know...  You can use only butter.  But, somehow, some way, that little bit of shortening just makes them OH SO YUMMY and I can't give it up in this recipe.

Here is the recipe:
3 cups of all purpose flour
1 Tablespoon of baking powder
1 Tablespoon of sugar
1 teaspoon of salt
3/4 teaspoon of cream of tartar
1 stick of butter (cold)
1/4 cup of shortening
1 1/4 cups of milk

-Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
-Combine in a large bowl:  Flour, Baking Powder, Sugar, Salt and Cream of Tartar
-Wisk to mix well.
-Using a pastry blender (or your hands) cut butter and shortening into four mixture.
-Make a well in the flour mix and pour the milk in.
-Mix well with a wooden spoon.
-Spoon out to make 12 biscuits.
-Shape a little.
-Bake at 450 degrees for 10 - 14 minutes.

I chopped up my butter in small pieces.

I use my hands to 'cut' in the butter and shortening because I do not have a pastry blender. 

This is why Hannah had to take all the photos.

This is what the mix looks like when it is crumbly and mixed up good.

Don't forget to make the well in the middle.  Then, pour the milk in.

Mix it up like normal.

I kind of eyeball it to spoon out twelve biscuits.  At the end, I check to see if all of them look pretty much the same and then take from one and give to another until they are all even.

I then shape them around a little bit to make them look more like real biscuits instead of blobs.

They still kind of look like blobs.

When they are finished in the oven, they are slightly browned and if you lift one with a fork, it should be slightly brown on the bottom too.

These biscuits freeze perfectly.  We make a batch and since we don't want to eat them all right then (well, we do 'want' to eat them all, but we don't), we put them in the freezer for future breakfasts.  You could thaw them out by laying them out on the counter the night before, or (shut your eyes) put them in the microwave for a couple minutes on defrost.

I said "shut your eyes" a little while ago because I just despise a microwave. 

Horrible... simply horrible for your body.

Winston

Meet Winston...

We took a little trip yesterday.  Dara is one of our neighbors here in the campground.  Her and her husband, Drew are expecting a baby boy in a couple of months.  Dara has a horse named Winston.  He stays at a barn nearby.  Dara called to see if we wanted to go see him.  I kept it a secret from the girls until close to time to go.  I wish I could have got a picture of their faces when I told them.  They were VERY excited! 
We had so much fun. 

Dara is a natural teacher.  She was explaining everything to the girls (me included).  She was teaching us about caring for the horse; what the different brushes were called, what they were used for and why. 

She showed us how to 'lunge' a horse.

She taught us how to ride and 'steer' the horse where we want him to go.

I really appreciated her patience and time.  You can tell she loved teaching us as much as we loved learning. 

And Cari bought herself a toy horse with some of her birthday money and she named him 'Salem'. 

We are looking forward to many more visits with Winston. Hannah already asked this morning if we could go back again today.