Food Friday: Waffled Hashed Browns

That Belgian waffle maker we purchased at Deseret Industries, or maybe Goodwill Industries, when we first arrived in the mission almost two years ago, has been a great treat-maker for us, but mostly for Dear One. He LOVES waffles and maple syrup...the real maple syrup, though.  We ate up all the Vermont maple syrup we brought with us pretty soon after our arrival.  Now we use maple syrup from Costco.  We are hoping this will be a good sugaring season so there will be plenty when we arrive in Vermont come summer.

So, back to the waffle iron...we have tried a variety of foods in the waffle maker.  The most recent was hashed browns.  They worked pretty well.

What I did:  scrubbed a large russet baking potato then used the julienne cutter that Elder and Sister C gave us  soon after they came into the mission office.  It works great!!  For so many things!

After making a large pile of julienned potatoes, I sprayed the hot waffle iron with vegetable oil spray then put the shredded potatoes into each of the wells in the waffle maker and shut the cover. I let them cook for 4 minutes then checked them.  They looked pretty good but, knowing the texture Dear One likes, I let them go a couple more minutes.  Since they had looked a little dry, I put a pat of butter on top of each one before lowering the lid again. 

After that two minutes, I served them.  He liked them.  Well, how bad could somewhat crispy buttery potatoes be?!

Next time I think I will have a bite or two.

Flowers Again

The nice friendly little green shoots that came up under our study window have finally burst forth into lovely blooms.  I am a big fan of the beauty and fragrance of hyacinths, and these do not disappoint.

You can see they are a little rough. They are planted in very poor soil.

 Some of us, I think,  live in that same kind of poor soil, but still we come through that handicap as beautiful glorious souls who brighten the world so much for others.  I love knowing people who overcome so much opposition in many areas of their lives.  You are an inspiration to me.

Conversion to a Religious Life

Today in our Stake Conference (a stake is a group of local congregations in a geographic area) Elder Ruben Acosta suggested that it was important to have a gospel conversation at least once each week.  I decided I would do it. I will tell my "conversion to a religious life "story.

When I was a child my siblings and I would walk about a mile to church at the South Tunbridge church in the summer.  It was a nice walk and nice to attend church there.  As I grew up I sang in the choir and became active in the youth group, a group of teenagers I loved with all my heart.  Eventually I taught Sunday School to a small group of four year old children, which was such a delight to me.

One day when I was in sixth grade our teacher, Mrs. Bird, took us to the Joseph Smith Birthplace Memorial as part of our local history learning segment. There was a life-sized statue of Joseph Smith.  The missionary who was talking with us told us that he was a prophet of God, and the prophet of the Restoration.  In that moment something whispered to me that this was true.  I knew in that moment that he truly was a prophet of God.  The only prophets of God I had known of before that were Moses and Noah and Enoch, and a few others.  This was exciting to me that there had been a prophet of God on the earth in the 1800s and that he lived right next door to my Dewey and Burbank ancestors.

Five years later two young missionaries came to our farm and talked to our family about the great plan of happiness of our Father in Heaven.  They gave us copies of The Book of Mormon and invited us to read it and then pray to God to know if this was truly His word, like The Bible is His word.  They promised us that if we would read this scripture and pray about it, we could have a confirming warm feeling in our bosom which would confirm to us that it was true.  I did read The Book of Mormon. I did pray about it...my first kneeling prayer, and my first vocal prayer.  Just as the missionaries told us could happen, I did have a burning in my bosom and immediately felt that The Book of Mormon was the word of God and I wanted to read it all the way through.  Since that day I have read it all the way through repeatedly, in fact, multiple times each year.  It lifts me up each time.

So, what to do with this new knowledge?  The missionaries invited us to attend church.  Our whole family began attending church at the meetinghouse which was near the Joseph Smith Birthplace Memorial.  Each time we went, I felt more and more that this was a good place to attend church, though I missed my friends at the South Tunbridge church.  One day I decided I had to be baptized even though at that time I was afraid that my dear friends would no longer have anything to do with me if I changed churches. I don't know what made me think that but fear was in my heart.  It would be so hard to "lose" those friends, but I had a witness in my heart that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was the restored church of Jesus Christ which He had established when He walked the earth in the meridian of time.  The church He restored through the prophet Joseph Smith. The church that has a living prophet today.  I had to be true to that truth which I felt even if I was shunned.

So...on 25 June 1967 I entered the waters of baptism with my sister.  This has made all the difference in the way I have lived my life.  Not that I lived a bad life at that time, but just not as full a life, even though I did try to do good.  Now I had a goal...to become closer to living like Jesus Christ in my actions every day so that I could live with Him and with our Heavenly Parents again one day.  I continue to try to do that.

Fifty years and one week after I entered that water and was baptized by total immersion to clean my sins away and become a new creature in Christ, a mission call came for my husband and me to serve as full-time missionaries in the Oregon Portland Mission, just as those two missionaries so long ago were serving full-time who taught our family precious gospel truths.

Some of those truths are: that our spirits have always existed; that we lived with our Heavenly Parents before this life; that we came to earth to acquire a body and to learn and grow and make choices; that one day we would leave this mortal existence and return to the spirit world where we would wait for the judgement then be assigned to a kingdom of glory where we can actually live with Them again and with our loved ancestors.

Some of the good things we could choose to do during our mortal sojourn were: to be baptized, to study the scriptures, to pray, to attend church, to serve others, to share the gospel message of Christ with others who could choose to embrace it or not as seemed right to them, and to marry for time and eternity in a temple of God and bring families into the world.

These things I have done.  They have brought me great joy.  I am so grateful for the life I have been able to live.  I am also so grateful that my friends in that long ago church did not turn their backs on my but are my friends still today, even though we do not physically see one another often. And while we still have a few months left on this full-time mission, I hope to continue to do my best to serve God and my fellow beings in every way I can.

First Box: Packed!

When looking at the calendar it appears that our days here are numbered.  Well, they are.  This is something I have been trying not to think about.  It will be very wrenching to end our service here.  It has been so wonderful to serve our Lord and Savior here among wonderful people.

It will also be a solid bit of work to pack up boxes, barrels, and cans to head back East.

Today I made the first step:

Box number one:  Christmas things.

This is really a very small box.  VERY small.

Actually, when I took this picture it was not entirely packed.  I added another handmade ornament plus the glass ball with a Christmas scene inside that "snows"...are they called snow globes?  Well, that is in there now, too, and the box is taped shut.

One box down, many to go.

Munchie Monday: Quick and Easy Sweet Popcorn Treat

It was coming up to Saint Patrick's Day.  I wanted to bring a treat to the office that was not totally garbage.  This is a recipe I found somewhere...though it was for Valentine's Day so it was red.

To make this, pop corn.  Measure out 8 cups and put on a lined rimmed cookie sheet. Sprinkle 1/2 cup of honey nut peanuts over the popped corn then sprinkle 1/2 cup of M and M's. I could not find green ones so I used the mini M and M's that we had on the shelf in a glass jar for decorations.

In a glass measuring cup place 1/2  semi-sweet chocolate chips along with 1 1/2 teaspoons of neutral tasting oil. I used avocado oil. 

Heat for 30 seconds then remove from microwave and stir.  If not entirely melted, put back in the microwave for another 15-30 seconds.  Stir well then drizzle the melted chocolate over the popcorn, peanuts, and M and M's. 

Repeat with 1/2 cup white chocolate chips into which you have dropped a few drops of green food color plus 1 1/2 teaspoons avocado oil.  Heat for 30 seconds then remove and stir.  In our microwave, the white chocolate chips were melted in 30 seconds.  Drizzle over the top in the other direction.

Let cool completely on the counter.  This takes quite a while.  When the chocolate is no longer tacky, put in an airtight container until ready to serve.

This stuff is all right, just not stunningly delicious. I won't make it again.

To make up for that treat blunder (which, at the time, I did not know was going to be a bust) I also brought in our Vitamix in my carry-on luggage, along with an orange, an apple, a banana (sadly, the banana was still too green), a little knob of fresh ginger, a lemon slice, and a bag of kale.  I made some of Lenny Gale's Every Day Green Juice.  I did not think anyone would like it except me, BUT IT WAS ALL GONE at the end of the afternoon!

That made me happy!

Food Friday: Tofu Spread!

The other day I was at Whole Foods Market.  There was a nice girl with a display/sample table set up near the front of the store.  She invited me over as I was passing by.  I tried a sample. It was tofu spread that she served on a rice cracker.  It was amazingly tasty.  I walked all the way across the store to get a container of it out of the refrigerator case near the produce!

This is what it looks like (above) on toast.  Once, ages ago, I tried to make fake egg salad, which is what this reminds me of. My rendition was garbage.  The brand of this good stuff is "Toby's" which is local to Springfield, Oregon.  It made me happy to support a family business as well as have a tasty treat.

This spread is made of tofu, mayonnaise, onions, celery, nutritional yeast, sea salt, parsley, herbs and spices...all good things.  I wish I had their recipe.  When I go home to Vermont soon, I would like to be able to continue to eat this.

So far I have not tried this on Dear One.  That will be the proof of the pudding.

Plant Miracle!

It is a well-known fact (among a small group of family members...), that I am a serial plant killer.  I LOVE plants.  They make me so happy.  I cannot keep them alive for long, though.  When Elder and Sister J returned home from their mission they brought over their lovely ivy plant for me to take care of until the new missionaries arrived in April to take over the J's apartment.  This made me very nervous.  Unbelievably worried, in fact.  After all, I kill plant.  Even plants I particularly love.

Every Sunday morning I have poured half a bottle of filtered water over this plant as it has sat on our dining room table.  It has only lost two leaves since early December.  Today I decided to move it to a new location.  (After all, it was time to put away the fake poinsettia plant, I think, which had been in that location...plus we have company coming to share a bowl of popcorn with us tonight...).

Here is the plant!  Alive and pretty much well, as far as I can tell.  This makes me happy. I hope Elder and Sister T will like the plant.  Either way, come the middle of April, someone else will have the opportunity to help this plant live or die!

Wednesday Wonders: Lacy Tree

There is a tree outside the church building that catches my eye every time we come to church.  Which is actually pretty often. I do not yet know what the is called.

In my mind I call this the lace-y evergreen.  It is unlike any trees I have seen in Vermont.  In fact, there are many trees here in Oregon that are unlike any trees in Vermont!

A few Sundays ago it was very very windy.  This tree's branches were blowing in the wind.  It looked like an old-fashioned lady's skirts billowing out around her.  Such a lovely sight.

Early Morning Yarn Project

Last night I came to the end of one of the skeins of yarn I was using to make a Garter Squish blanket.  I needed to add in another strand of yarn but wanted to do it from yarn cakes instead of skeined yarn.

Since all the remaining yarn I wanted to use for this blanket was in skeins, I got out the trusty Stanwood yarn winder. I LOVE that winder.  So sturdy.  So easy to use.  So trustworthy in winding up lovely yarn cakes.  Yarn cakes which do not roll all over the sapworks when you are using them which can be a problem with some skeins.

The two blue cakes and the two white cakes are the ones I wound this morning before breakfast.  The gray and purples I spruced up a bit by tucking in the ends to keep them tidy.  Now I can go to town again on the blanket.  I hope to have it done by the end of the month, but that may be wishful thinking.

One thing I have found is that you can quickly and easily wind a skein with 6 ounces of yarn in it.  A skein with 7 ounces of yarn in it stretches the capacity of the Stanwood but can be done by slowing down and helping it a little bit.  That is not really a problem since most of the yarn I wind is 4 ounces.

It was a good morning's work and started the day off very well.

Munchie Monday: Food Fail. Again.

We are trying to eat mostly plant foods.  This is going well.  Well, sort of.  Recently I saw a food product on social media somewhere that spoke highly of seitan.  I happened to find some at a rather high end grocery store.  It was Chorizo Sausage Seitan flavor.  How can you go wrong with sausage flavor?  I chose not to resist the urge to purchase it.

Today I made dinner with that Chorizo Sausage Seitan, a can of diced tomatoes we had in the cupboard, and some Miracle Noodles, fettuccini style, plus a few herbs and spices.

WELL!  It was really something.  It was so spicy that our mouths burned for ten minutes.  I decided to pack up the leftovers and take them so someone I know who appreciates spicy food.

It turns out the diced tomatoes were laced with roasted chipotle peppers!  I think it would be a good idea to take more time with grocery shopping and look CAREFULLY at each label, being sure there is a connection between my eyes and my brain...!  Dear One would certainly appreciate it.  Or so he says...

Thursday Thoughts: Sleep

Sleep is critically important to our health.  The older I get, the more I realize this.  I am hoping some day to get it together with sleep.  When you read the magazine articles/scientific studies about how to have good sleep (go to bed same time every night, wake up same time every morning, have a bedtime ritual, stop screen time 60-90 minutes before bedtime, eat or drink no caffeine after 6 PM, etc)  I have done most of those--except the screen time--for a long time, and yet, there are nights where sleep is just plain elusive.

For the past few years, when I wake up at night, I go back to bed and try to drop off again. If I don't fall back to sleep within 30 minutes, I get up and do something productive, such as read my scriptures, knit, quietly clean up anything that needs cleaning up--and there is ALWAYS something to clean up that I did not do before bed!

Sadly, these stay-up times can last for hours.  Even with positive self-talk.  Such as, I am only going to knit two more rounds, or I will only read today's scripture goal, or I will only read one Spanish chapter, or, or, or.  Or even, at 2:30 I will definitely go back to bed.  Staying up seems to feed on itself.

Lately I have noticed that the nights when I am up for three or four hours during the night, I wake up with very nasty blood glucose levels.  Rats! 

So I was talking with Dear One.  Griping, actually, and he said he just stays in bed, tosses and turns for a while, then eventually falls back to sleep on those rare nights when sleep is difficult for him.  I think I will try that one for a while to see if that works.  I am definitely tired of feeling tired all day. 

Night-before-last was an up-most-of-the-night night.  Not surprisingly, last night I slept from 9:00 to 5:30!  Score!  And my blood sugar was happy this morning, even though I had not eaten smartly last evening.

May I say that I hope everyone who reads this post has better and better sleep.  It makes the days so much easier.

Food Friday: Quick and Easy Waffled Grilled Cheese Sandwiches!

Somewhere I got the idea to try making things other than waffles in the waffle maker.  Some time ago, actually.  The latest thing we tried was a grilled cheese sandwich.

To do this, I buttered one side of the sandwich bread and put the sandwich into the heated waffle maker, butter side down.  Next I buttered the top slice of bread and put the lid down on the sandwich.  Because the bread is already cooked and the cheese just needed to melt, I think I only let it cook for about one minute.  Next time I am not going to butter the bread and see what happens.

Dear One liked this sandwich.  Quick and easy, and the next one will be healthier without the added butter...

Wednesday Wonders: Rome Italy Temple

Dear One and I started our marriage together kneeling at an altar in the Cardston, Alberta, Canada temple nearly 46 years ago.

Cardston, Alberta, Canada Temple from Wikipedia.  No copyright information visible.

 At the time there were no temples east of the Rocky Mountains. So we made the long trip to Cardston by car, bus, train, bus, and car again.   In 1974 a beautiful new temple was dedicated in Washington, DC. 

This picture came from Wikipedia.  I could not find copyright information to credit here, either.

For years we did not get to go to the temple together as Dear One was teaching school and I was caring for five small children.  One year, when several of the children were in elementary school, sisters in the Relief Society took turns caring for the children in shifts so that I could attend the temple again. It had been many years, years when I began to doubt my spiritual worth.  That loving kindness by those sisters to allow me to attend the temple again re-ignited my spiritual lantern which continues to guide and direct me to this day.

As the children, grew Dear One and I together were able to make the trip to Washington, DC temple more and more regularly until we became ordinance workers there, and later, in Boston when that temple was dedicated.  The temple has been an integral part of our spirit's life for many many years.  It is such a blessing to attend and worship in the temple.

Now a new temple has been dedicated: in Rome, Italy.  It was so wonderful to participate in a virtual tour of this new temple led by two apostles:  Elder David Bednar and Elder Ronald Rasband.  I thought others of you might be interested in seeing and learning about this holy House of the Lord.

Here is that virtual tour.  This picture was taken from the ChurchofJesusChrist.org website.

Just click on the link beneath the temple to tour this glorious sacred edifice.

Tuesday Troubles: Some Days...

Today was one of those days.  I had informed Dear One that I thought we had our eating all wrong.  Instead of eating next to nothing for breakfast, a larger lunch, and a big supper, I told him we should turn it totally around and have our real meals at breakfast and lunch and let supper go.

So, for breakfast today I made him a nice big fat waffle and a plate of pan fries. Not at all nutritious but food he loves. For myself I made a small bowl of lovely leftover chili which was really good.  Well, it would have been good except when I brought it out of the microwave, even though I had pot holders in both hands, the bowl slipped out of my grasp, crashed to the kitchen floor, smashed, and spread the chili in a pretty good mess.

Fortunately there was more in the refrigerator so I warmed up another bowl and this time I chopped a small avocado and put that on top of the chili.  I put my next-to-favorite spoon in the bowl since I could not locate my favorite spoon, and when I turned towards the table, the spoon and avocado fell out of the bowl onto the floor and gave me ANOTHER mess to clean up!

Fortunately it was only the avocado that spilled, not the new chili,  and I had a nice breakfast.

A little later I went to the laundry closet  where I thought I had been soaking some whites in Oxyclean for Whites.  Even though I had put water in the whites originally, there seemed to be no water in the washer so I turned it on to fill while I took my shower.  I am a fast person in the shower (after 7 people to get through showers before school back in the old log cabin days you learn to be fast.  At least, I did...) but when I got out of the shower I heard the washer agitating.  I rushed out to the laundry closet in my towel to lift the cover so the clothes could actually soak in water. Couldn't because the lid was locked so I pressed the button to stop the agitating and lift the cover while the clothes soak.  Nope.  When I pressed the button, all the water drained out of the washer and there was nothing I could do.

Three strikes today. You would think that was enough but there was MORE!!

After ward conference where our Bishop encouraged us not to fritter away our valuable time on things that were not of true worth, I decided to do a bit of picking up and organizing our dining area.  I had thought about moving the paper shredder to live beside the patiently-waiting-for-summer air conditioner so I could use that spot for something else.  So...I put the thought into action.

This was a good idea.  EXCEPT that when I lifted the shredder, the top came off, fell to the floor, and tipped over the shredding bucket which was full of shreds.  Now the shreds were on the floor and as I stepped over the shreds to pick up the shredder itself, instead of stepping over the shreds I managed to kick them so there were little tiny paper shreds everywhere!  I considered, for about two seconds, enlisting the aid of Dear One to clean up that mess, but since I had not asked him to clean up the previous messes I thought he would appreciate a whole day not having to take care of my foolishness.

Off to the hall closet for the vacuum cleaner.  You may gasp at this, but I have not done any vacuuming in this apartment.  Dear One has done all of it.  It was a bit of a comedy of errors because that machine was totally new to me.  I stepped on both of the gray step-buttons.  Nothing happened.  I pressed the red button on the back. Nothing happened.  Finally I asked Dear One if the cleaner was battery powered.  He looked at me, then said, "Yes."  OK, then how did you turn it on?  I could NOT figure it out.

After a few moments he got up from the couch still smiling, came over the vacuum cleaner and pulled out the cord.  Duh!  Oh well.  So I started vacuuming up all the little paper pieces.  All of a sudden my long acetate and spandex skirt was caught the the roller.  That was it.  I extricated the skirt, fortunately without tearing it,  put away the cord after a laughing bit of help from Dear One, and promised the vacuuming was back in his court from how on.

And that was my day.

The good thing about the day was that I made some efforts with our genealogy which made me happy and cleaned the bad taste out of my mouth from my little peccadillos. 

Munchie Monday: Quick and Easy Green Juice

Lenny Gale's YouTube channel is so instructive and motivating to me.  He and Shalva put up lots of good recipes.  The latest one I have tried is his Green Juice recipe.

Mine was a little different than his, but it tasted really good anyway.

This uses a high speed blender.  I don't know if a less powerful one will do the trick to liquify everything.  Maybe if run a lot longer...?

This is how I made it because of what I had on hand:

In the blender put in this order:
1.5 cups of water
1 cored apple
1 peeled banana
a small chunk of fresh ginger
2 small dried up peeled clementines
a big handful of chopped raw kale, stems and all
3 cups ice (the ice needs to go on top)


Turn it on to blend on high for 90 seconds, then pour out into glasses. 

NOTE:  This is NOT a thick smoothie, but is in actuality green JUICE, just like Lenny said!

Because I was unsure of the taste, I only poured half a glass for Dear One and for myself.  It was really good!  Dear One liked it, too.  There was leftover juice which I put in the refrigerator to drink later.

Thanks, Lenny and Shalva!  #lifeisnoyoke

Food Friday: Two-Step Chunky Microwave Applesauce

We had a fair number of apples left over from Zone Conference last month.  I wondered if we could make baked apples in the microwave.  Mind you, I am not that much a fan of baked apples but I thought that might use up a good few of the apples.

The first step was to get a nice glass bowl for the microwave at Goodwill.  The bowl is a fabulous bowl.  Nice and heavy and the perfect size.

Next I cut four apples in half and scooped out the core, placed them in the bowl (overlapping a little bit) then sprinkled on a little brown sugar, then dotted with butter.  Finally I put them in the microwave at the office and cooked them for 5 minutes on high.

After five minutes the apples were mostly softened but not mush.  I was only able to talk one person in the office to try one.  Since that did not go as I had hoped, I put the bowl in the refrigerator overnight.

Today I brought my little Ninja Food Chopper Express to the office and chopped up those cold apples.  It made wonderful chunky applesauce!  In no time flat!

By the way, this is NOT the nice heavy glass bowl from Goodwill...!

Winter Flowers!

The day before staff meeting last month I was at Winco doing a little grocery shopping: in particular refilling our carrot coffers.  Carrots are a nice treat and something we like to keep in the office to go along with all the junky treats we also offer.

As I approached Winco's front door I walked past the outside plant shelves.  There were some wonderful-looking flowers there that grabbed my attention. I picked one up and brought it inside to purchase.  When I chose this one, it had no blossoms but lots of buds.

Here is that plant today!  So beautiful and cheery.

This plant makes me so happy.  Sister B gave me some fertilizer for it, so I hope I can keep it alive for a long time.  We shall see.

A Watercolor Attempt at a Birch Tree

Birthdays are coming fast and furious in our family and among our friends.  I tried a fall birch tree scene again that I had enjoyed watching The Frugal Crafter teach us.  Rather pitiful result but fun to try. I may try again soon.

Rather than tell you all the things I don't like about this, I will say what I learned.

1.  Cheap watercolor paper does not always give the results you might hope for.  I love making clouds but the clouds did not make it on this paper.  Sadly, I am not sure which paper this was as the cover is missing.  I believe I had better luck with Strathmore watercolor paper.

2.  It is possible to paint in many different locations and pretty much with whatever you have around you.  I wanted the have this picture have a white border.  To do this on the actual painting you need to tape the paper to something first.  Since I did this work at the office I discovered that my desk calendar was just the right size to tape down a 4.5 by 6 piece of watercolor paper.

3.  Wasting supplies annoys me.  However, when starting with 9 by 12 watercolor paper, which you can cut into perfect quarters, means that the card to which you affix the painting wastes some of the underlying card.  I found that cutting the card stock 10 by 6.5 gives a pretty nice foundation.  If I want to not waste the card stock, I cut that 4.25 by 11 which gives me two nice card bases, but then the painting has to be cut down, so, either cut down the watercolor paper first to fit the card base, or go with the wasted card stock with the larger painting.  This did leave a nice 2 by 11 piece of card stock plus a little 1 by 6.5 inch piece to play with.

4.  To have a better painting, more time is needed.

5.  To make a card I really like includes a foundation card stock I really like.  I have recently cut up a whole package of 8.5 by 11 Park Lane card stock in floral designs.  I cut two cards from each sheet so those cards either need the watercolor paper to be cut smaller (or wasted) OR I need to do something else for the front of the card.  I might go back to splatter painting with pen and ink drawings of some nature.

Either way (either I like what I produce, or I don't) it is so enjoyable to make cards for loved ones.  Since I cannot be there in person for everyone,  it makes me happy to reach with cards I have made with my hands.

Miracles

Dear One and I were reading the scriptures.  This time it was Matthew 8 and Matthew 9 in the King James New Testament.  These chapters recount some of the early miracles of the Lord Jesus Christ.   I noticed something about them that I had not really thought of before. 

1.  The leper worshipped Him then asked to be made clean.  Actually, the leper said that if the Savior would, He could heal the leper.  And the Savior said, "I will." And he was healed.

2.  When Jesus entered Capernaum a centurion begged Jesus to heal his ailing servant. Jesus said He would come and heal him, but the centurion felt unworthy and told the Savior if He just said the word, that his servant could be healed.  And He did and the servant was healed.

3.  Peter's mother-in-law was sick of a fever when Jesus came to the house.  He just touched her and she was healed and arose and then ministered unto them herself.

4.  When the Savior entered His own city, people brought a man sick of the palsy to Him to be healed.  Jesus recognized their faith and healed the man.

5.  One of the most interesting of the miracles was a ruler came to Jesus and told Jesus that his daughter was dead and if Jesus would just come and lay His hand upon her, she would live.  And Jesus did it.

The thing that I noticed about these miracles this time reading through them was that in most of these instances, and many others I am remembering,  people came to Jesus with faith in their hearts and minds and worshipped Him, and then asked Him to heal either themselves or their loved and needed ones.  These people all had faith in Jesus and in His ability to heal them.  Then they asked.

Can it not be the same for us?  I know He can heal me and those I care about of our various infirmities.  I think we just need to ask with that same faith as our brothers and sisters asked in the meridian of time, and He will heal us, too.    Just ask.  That same ask and ye shall receive; knock and it shall be opened unto you.  I have a good mind to ask more often, even though we have already had miracles in our lives, which I may talk about another time.

How I love the words of the scriptures!  They bless my life and give me hope and peace and comfort and strength to keep moving forward.

Munchie Monday: Carrot Ginger Soup, more or less

Carrots are supposed to be good for you.   Lots of reasons why.  So, when I found a recipe for Carrot Ginger Soup I was thinking of the wonderful Butternut Squash Soup that our dear friend has made for us.  That soup is so luscious and smooth and just plain delicious.  This carrot soup looks sort of like that soup, but it does not taste like that soup.  At all. Sadly.  Surprising, really.  So I made a few changes.

Carrot Ginger Soup

5 cups vegetable broth (the original recipe called for 4 cups, but I had five cups in the jar and did not want to leave a lonely cup in there by itself)
10 large carrots, cut into chunks (since we had several that were becoming rather limp, I thought this was a good use for them so I put them all in.  The original recipe called for 6-10 large carrots>)
1 large sweet onion, diced rather large . (This one was a Mayan Sweet, I think.  Love those.)
1 1/2 inch of ginger, minced (This made a little over 1 Tablespoon of grated ginger for which I used the little Ninja Express my sister sent me.  Such a great piece of equipment!  I am so grateful for it. Use it all the time. ALL the time!)
2-3 teaspoons avocado oil
Salt and Pepper, granulated garlic, granulated onion, and Kirkland No-Salt Seasoning to taste
Plus cooked black beans in individual bowls, if you wish.

Sauté the onions in the oil for about 3 minutes, or more, until translucent.

Add the carrots and stir occasionally.  They will need to cook at least 10 minutes and maybe 15-20 until the carrots are mostly tender.

Add the broth and seasonings, and cook further until you are certain the carrots are soft.  Remove from heat and, using an immersion blender, turn the soup into a lovely soft purée.

Serve with chopped chives or scallions on top, and as I did, add a few tablespoons of black beans to up the protein content.

This soup was really rather good.  The next day I took it cold out of the refrigerator and put a couple of servings in the Vita-mix and blended it further.  It did have the nice smooth texture of the Butternut Squash soup after blending, but not the taste. I should have known.  That is why I added all the ingredients in the seasoning list beyond the salt and pepper above.  It really was rather bland before adding them. I actually added more to my mug afterwards...

Food Friday: Quick and Easy Two-Bean Chili

Quick and Easy food is critically important here!  When we come home from the office we are ready to eat NOW, so I am getting better at making things fast.  I don't suppose it counts as "homemade" if it is all cans but...

Today's recipe was truly quick.  We had three partial jars of different salsas in the refrigerator.  They had been open for a while so they needed to be used.  We had a can of green chilis and two different beans in the cupboard so I put them all together, heated them in a flash and we were eating.

These were quite mild and added good flavor.

These salsas were purchased so we could decide once and for all what salsa we liked best.  I think Pace was the winner here.  The other one had vinegar in it.

This salsa was a one-time deal.  It was good in the chili but not good alone.

This was fast chili that I only added a teaspoon of cumin to the pot to make it tasty.  Of course there were leftovers, which to me is a good thing because there was at least a second instant meal in the refrigerator.

You can't go wrong with red kidney beans and great northern beans add a nice creaminess to any recipe.