I met a minister’s wife in December who shared with me a special “diet” that she has been on for a number of years. Actually, it’s more of a lifestyle change. After listening to her, asking her questions and doing some reading on my own, I decided that during the month of January I would try going on a mostly raw vegan diet. It has been a challenging but fun experiment. I am finding that I have more energy and am enjoying this change more than I thought I would. With that in my mind, I have renamed the former “Favorite Family Recipes” page to Raw and Cooked Vegan Dishes and will be sharing some of the recipes I have made. Feel free to visit the page, and if you decide to try any of the recipes, let me know what you think. Bon appetit!
Category Archives: food
Home Is Where The Hearts Are
Don’t have a lot of dough to buy Valentine gifts? Me neither. Here’s an easy cookie recipe that requires only a few common ingredients. I hope all of you will have a wonderful Valentine’s Day by letting your family and friends know that you love and appreciate them.
Valentine Cutouts
1 cup sugar
¾ cup shortening (part margarine or butter softened)
2 eggs
1 tsp. Vanilla or ½ tsp. Lemon extract
2 ½ cups all purpose flour
1 tsp. Baking powder
1 tsp. Salt
Mix sugar, shortening, eggs and vanilla. Stir in flour, baking powder and salt. Cover and refrigerate at least one hour. Heat oven to 400. Roll out dough about 1/8 inch thick and cut into assorted shapes with heart shaped cookie cutters. Place on ungreased cookie sheet, and bake until light brown, 6 to 8 minutes. Remove from cookie sheet; cool. Decorate with creamy frosting.
Creamy Frosting
1 cup powdered sugar
½ tsp. Vanilla
¼ tsp. Salt
About 1 tbsp. Water or 1 to 2 tbsps. Half and half
Assorted food colors
Mix powdered sugar, vanilla and salt. Beat in water until smooth and of spreading consistency. Tint frosting with red food coloring as desired. Decorate even more with colored sugars, sprinkles and cinnamon candies if desired.
Makings Of A Sensational Sunday
I am still rejoicing in God’s blessings this past Sunday. First of all, I’m excited because children’s church has been going well. We have some kids that are coming consistently now, and I’m believing that God is going to do great things in their lives. In our family worship service we had 4 brand new visitors. One of the ladies that came lives only a couple of blocks away from the church. She told me afterwards that she has been around to several churches in the area but couldn’t find what she wanted. “I have been fed today!” she joyfully exclaimed to me. I give God all the glory, because that’s what we want. People need to be nourished on the pure, unadulterated Word of God.
Finally, finally, I know how to make good Spanish rice and refried beans. Another minister’s wife that we were with on New Year’s Day gave Jen and I a tutorial on how to do it. So on Sunday, I made the beans, Jen made the rice, and my husband made his homemade salsa. Mmm mmm good! Muy muy bien! I love good Mexican food. In fact, I enjoy it so much that I wouldn’t mind at all if this is what the Lord would want to have at the Marriage Supper of the Lamb! (Revelation 19:9) I’m looking forward to more of those beans after I go off this 3 day diet. LOL
25th Anniversary in Oahu
We had a fun day on August 13th, our 25th wedding anniversary. After sleeping in we had a wonderful lunch at the Kona Brewing Company. The coffee was outstanding. We then headed over to Hanouma Bay, which is about 15 minutes from our hotel. It was very beautiful, and we spent a couple of hours there walking around, taking pictures, dipping our toes in the water and playing hide and seek with some sea turtles. Afterwards, we took a long drive and ended up at the Dole Pineapple Plantation. We were able to tour their lovely gardens, ride the pineapple train which takes you all around the plantation and visit their large gift shop. For our anniversary dinner, we went to Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse. I have heard a lot about this place from people who have eaten their in San Francisco, but we had never gone to one. The food was outstanding, and the steaks were almost as good as my husband’s, but I would still have to give his steaks first place. I know I’ve gained some weight on this trip, but what a way to go!!
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Backyard Luau
The weather was just right for our first Backyard Luau for Youth ALIVE on Thursday night. Although there weren’t as many kids as I had hoped would be there, we still had a fun time. Below is the scoop on our luau and a few pictures.
The Food – Hawaiian Chicken, Slow Cooker Kalua Pig, fresh pineapple and banana chunks, macadamia nuts, chocolate covered macadamia nuts, Haupia(a coconut pudding dessert, which kind of looks like tofu-the kids thought it was disgusting) and Volcanic Punch.
The Music - Hawaiian Playground CD by Putumayo Kids
The Kids - Alyssa, Andreas, Bell, Jen, Matthew, Oscar, Paul and Zach.
The Games- Hawaiian Mad Gab, Pass The Coconut(kind of like hot potato), Parrot Ring Toss Game, Dinosaur Golf Ball Catch
The Lesson - The Ultimate Paradise – We talked about how we all look forward to the fun, rest and relaxation of vacations. A couple of kids told us about their best vacation. Although we can have a good time on vacations, there is really no such thing as a perfect paradise on this earth. Things can go wrong on vacations such as kids getting sick, money that gets stolen, lost luggage, flat tires, etc. , but one day if we follow God’s salvation plan as outlined in the book of Acts, Jesus is going to take us to a place where there will be no more crying, pain, death suffering or anything that can hurt us. The best part about heaven is that there will be no sin there and we will see Jesus, the One who died for us, and we’ll be with Him forever.
If You Like Cheesecake
For those of you who like cheesecake, you might want to try this recipe from Kraft foods sometime during the holidays. It was a big hit with my family and a recipe my husband said to definitely keep. Here is the link to the recipe.
http://www.kraftfoods.com/kf/recipes/recipedetail.htm?recipe_id=76195
The Burnt Offering of Thanksgiving
“Did you take this out of the fireplace?”
“It tastes like you crushed some Virginia Slims in it.”
Jennifer just ran to the bathroom to spit it out.
These were just a few of the reactions to the burnt stuffing my sister brought over to my house on Thanksgiving. Have you ever cooked something that just really bombed? Such was the case with Kiki’s stuffing. (Kiki is my sister Karen’s nickname.) However, this Thanksgiving tragedy quickly turned into comedy. All day long we cracked jokes about this smoky sidedish. My brother-in-law(Kiki’s husband) assured us that he was going to chuck the whole pot out the window as they drove over a particular bridge on their way home. You might think we’re weird, but this really created a great Thanksgiving memory that none of us present will ever forget. Everything else my sister made was wonderful. She cooked a moist turkey with delicious gravy, sensational sweet potatoes and a cherry cheesecake. I took a picture of Karen with a mournful look posing next to her “pot of death”, but alas, I haven’t figured out how to upload things off my new digital onto the computer. (I’m somewhat technically challenged.) Before I went to bed, I just had to write a little something in remembrance of the smoked stuffing.
Tribute To Smoked Stuffing
First I thought everyone was just bluffin’
’bout the burntness of poor Kiki’s stuffin’
but I found ’twas no joke
for it tasted like smoke
left the whole family huffin’ and puffin’!
EDIT
Here is the picture I mentioned of my dear sister lamenting over her stuffing. Is your heart sympathetic?
