The Bubble Maker

Holiday Three Jelly Sauce
1 jar apricot preserves
1 jar pineapple preserves
1 jar apple jelly
1 jar prepared horseradish
3 TBSP dry hot mustard
cream cheese, room temperature
whole wheat crackers

Combine the first five ingredients and mix well in a bowl.   Refrigerate until ready to use.  To serve, place the cream cheese on the center of a plate and spread the sauce evenly over the top.  Serve with crackers for spreading.  This is absolutely delicious and perfect for parties!

     Try to find the time to listen to the following link.  It is a sermon by Shane Phipps about how happiness is fleeting,  but there is a joy that can be found in knowing where true happiness comes from.

                http://marshill.org/teaching/2011/10/23/acts-3v19-return-to-the-bubble-maker/

Happy Thanksgiving

Vegan Coconut Sweet Potatoes
3-4 sweet potatoes (the purple variety are perfect)
about 1/3 cup coconut milk
4 cloves minced garlic
1/3 tsp sea salt, to taste
dash of pepper to taste

Boil the potatoes in water for about 45 minutes.  Drain the water and mash with the coconut milk.  Add more milk to desired consistency.  Add the garlic, salt, and pepper.  This is a succulent option for Thanksgiving dinner.


For Anna Catherine on Thanksgiving
        by Samuel Hazo

The first girl in generations,
you came when the century clicked
from nines to zeroes plus one.
Capped on a pallet, you flexed
your toes and let us count
your fingernails.

We studied you
as our particular event,
our small surprise, our bonus.
Months earlier, I prayed
that you'd be born intact
and healthy, and you were.

Today I wish you beauty, grace,
intelligence- the commonplace
grandfatherly cliches...

What makes us crave for those
we love such bounties of perfection?
Life, just life, is never
miracle enough no matter
how we try to church ourselves...
Squirming in my arms, you save me
from my tyranny of dreams
with nothing but your versions of a kiss
and the sure, blind love of innocence.

Home

Stuffed Acorn Squash with Quinoa and Pistachios

4 small acorn squash, halved and seeds removed
4 TBSP extra virgin olive oil
Sea salt and freshly ground pepper
1 cup quinoa, rinsed
1/2 cup fresh parsley
1/2 cup feta, crumbled (optional)
1/2 cup roasted, salted pistachios, chopped
2 tsp red-wine vinegar
Pinch red pepper flakes


  Heat the oven to 425 degrees.  Brush squash with 2 TBSP oil and season with salt and pepper.  Roast cu-side down on two baking sheets until tender and caramelized, 15-20 minutes.  Meanwhile, bring quinoa and 2 cups water to a boil in a small pot.  Reduce the heat and simmer, covered, until tender and water is absorbed, about 15 minutes.  Let cool, then fluff with a fork.  In a large bowl, combine quinoa, feta, pistachios, remaining oil, and vinegar.  Season with salt and red pepper flakes.  Divide among the squash.  Beautiful presentation and delicious.  An entire meal in itself!

    When my children are running and playing in the neighborhood, they are often too far away to hear me when I holler for them to come home.  I also don't want my neighbors to hear my vocal chords hit their maximum.  So, we mounted an old-fashioned bell to the back porch.  When I ring that bell, even one time, my kids come running home from all directions.  The bell made me think of the trials and hardships that come along during our lives.  Sometimes I feel like those are the ringing bells that guide us home, when we may not be pointing in that direction in the first place.  Remember when you are faced with the next obstacle, conquering that hurdle may the only way to help you return home.

Patience

  Avocado Delight
2 avocados, peeled, pitted, and diced
2 tomatoes, diced
2 small can of chopped black olives
1 small can of diced green chilies
1 lemon, juiced
Sea salt and fresh ground pepper to taste

Combine all in a bowl.  Use as a dip or for filling in tacos and burritos. Add garlic, cilantro, hot pepper flakes, etc.  as desired.


   Perhaps there is only one cardinal sin: impatience.  
     Because of impatience we were driven out of Paradise, 
      because of impatience we cannot return.  
                                 - Franz Kafka

    For in this hope we were saved.  Now hope that is seen is not hope.  
    For who hopes for what he sees?  But if we hope for what we do not see, 
    we wait for it with patience.
                                   -Romans 8:24-25

Skip and be happy!

Garlic Bread Salad  (Hit with my kids, they call it "Crouton Salad!")
1/2 pound crusty, stale bread
1 garlic clove, cut in half
1/4 extra virgin olive oil
2 TBSP fresh lemon juice
2 tomatoes, roughly chopped
Sea salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
1/4 cup roughly chopped fresh basil or parsley leaves

Rub the bread all over with the garlic clove, then toast or grill until crunchy and lightly browned.  Cut or tear the bread into 1/2 inch pieces and toss with remaining ingredients.  Serve immediately.  Sometimes I add peppers, barely cooked green beans, or raw onion.

     "You are worried about seeing him spend his early years doing nothing.  What!  Is it nothing to be happy?  Nothing to skip, play and run around all day long? Never in his life will he be so busy again."
                                                                           - Jean-Jacques Rousseau, 1762

Grace

A vegetable filled dessert......?
Banana Marshmallow Dip
1 cup butternut squash puree
1 cup banana puree (make sure to add 1 TBSP honey)
1 cup mini-marshmallows
fruit slices for dipping (apples, oranges, or cantaloupe)

Stir together the squash and the banana purees.  Microwave for two minutes.  Stir in the marshmallows, then start dipping!  My kids actually enjoy this dip.  They like it even better with a few chocolate chips stirred in!

     Grace, in the greek meaning, is a gift.  It is a free gift to you wherever you are, whatever you have done, whoever you used to be or still am.  You may not deserve it.  Actually none of us really deserve it.    But grace is given to all who accept it.

        What once was hurt
        What once was friction
        What left a mark
        No longer stings
        Because grace makes beauty
        Out of ugly things.


   - Bono, from U2's song, Grace

Give the gift of love

Spicy Eggplant Relish

2 TBSP olive oil
1 cup minced onion
1 medium eggplant
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cumin
1 medium -sized bell pepper, minced
1 medium clove garlic clove, minced
1 TBSP lemon juice
cayenne, to taste

Heat olive oil in a medium-sized skillet and add the onion, eggplant, salt, and cumin, and saute over medium heat for 15-20 minutes.  Add the pepper and saute for 10 more minutes.  Stir in the garlic and lemon juice.  Cook for five more minutes.  Add cayenne and more salt, to taste.  Serve any temperature as a side dish, on crackers, or as a dip.  This is absolutely delicious.  - Revised from Molly Katzen's Moosewood Cookbook


"When we love authentically, we have an attitude of generosity in all we do."
                                                                                - Gary Chapman
"Love in a word is the gift of self."
                     - Pope John Paul II

   Sometimes, when I am not feeling loved, I try to love others and then begin to feel love in return.  We live in societies that claim that selfishness is to be praised and the path we should all take.  But to truly feel love and understand what it means, we first have to give.  Give the gift of love.  

Kindness

Butternut Squash in Coconut Milk
1/2 cup flaked coconut
2 tsp vegetable oil
1/2 small onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup coconut milk
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 TBSP fish sauce
1/8 tsp red pepper flakes
1 butternut squash, peeled and cut into large cubes
1 TBSP fresh cilantro

     Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Spread the coconut on a baking pan and bake until golden, about five minutes.  Set aside to cool and crisp.
      Heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat.  Add the onion and the garlic and stir three minutes, until tender.  Add the coconut milk, brown sugar, fish sauce, and red pepper flakes. Stir until the sugar is dissolved.
     Bring the mixture to a boil and add the squash.  Reduce the heat, cover,
and allow to cook until the squash is tender, about 30 minutes.
     With a slotted spoon, transfer the squash to a serving bowl.
     Boil the remaining liquid until it thickens, then pour over the
     squash.  Garnish with toasted coconut and cilantro.


       "It is one of the beautiful compensations of life, that no man 
        can sincerely try to help another without helping himself."
                                                         -Ralph Waldo Emerson

        "No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted."
                                                         -AESOP

Be Nice

Sweet Potato Soup 
2 sweet potatoes
2 regular potatoes
1 turnip
1/2 cup soy milk
6 cups vegetable broth
1 TBSP brown sugar
1 tsp ground nutmeg
salt and pepper to taste

    Peel and cut the vegetables into small pieces.  Place in a pot, and
cover with the vegetable stock.
Bring to a boil and simmer until the vegetables are tender.  Place the contents of the pot into a food processor and blend until smooth.  Return the pureed veggies to the pot and slowly stir in the soy milk, sugar, nutmeg.  Salt and pepper to taste.  This is a perfect warming soup for these colder days.

"Don't be yourself - be someone a little nicer."
                                    - Mignon McLaughlin

"How far that little candle throws his beams!
  So shines a good deed in a naughty world. "
                                     - William Shakespeare

Anonymous

Chocolate Pumpkin Pie

1 and 1/2 ups non-diary chocolate chips

1 can organic pumpkin pie mix or 2 cups fresh cooked and mashed pumpkin

2 TBSP unrefined sugar

2 tsp arrowroot powder

1/8 tsp sea salt

1 prepared graham cracker crust

2 TBSP chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.  Melt 11/4 cups of the chocolate chips over a simmering water bath.  While chocolate is melting, add the pumpkin, sugar, arrowroot powder and salt to a food processor and puree until very smooth.  Add the chocolate to the food processor after it is completely melted.  Pour the mixture into the pie crust and then sprinkle with chocolate chips.  Bake for 15 minutes, then reduce the oven to 350 degrees and bake for 35 more minutes.  Allow to cool before serving.  

                              Footprints in the Sand


                             One night I dreamed I was walking along the beach with the Lord.
                                  Many scenes from my life flashed across the sky.
                                       In each scene I noticed footprints in the sand.
                                            Sometimes there were two sets of footprints,
                                                other times there were one set of footprints.


                                                This bothered me because I noticed
                                            that during the low periods of my life,
                                       when I was suffering from
                                  anguish, sorrow or defeat,
                              I could see only one set of footprints.


                              So I said to the Lord,
                                 "You promised me Lord,
                                       that if I followed you,
                                           you would walk with me always.
                                                 But I have noticed that during 
                                                        the most trying periods of my life
                                                              there have only been one
                                                                    set of footprints in the sand.
                                    Why, when I needed you most,
                                  you have not been there for me?"


                                                                   The Lord replied,
                                   "The time when you have seen only one set of footprints,
                                                             is when I carried you."
                                       
                                                                           - Mary Stevenson, 1936

    Remember that when you feel alone, life is hard to encounter, or there is little hope, there is a God who loves you and is with you, even if you do not ask for help. It reminds me of the anonymous donor.  They give without needing credit.  So is our Creator, who gives continuously even when He does not receive the credit.

Life: Enjoy and Appreciate!

Roasted Brussels Sprouts and Grapes with Walnuts
4 cups of small, halved brussels sprouts
2 cups grapes (red)
2 TBSP extra-virgin olive oil
2 TBSP fresh thyme
Course Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 tsp balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup walnuts, toasted and coarsely chopped

     Heat the oven to 450 degrees.  On a baking sheet, toss the brussels sprouts and grapes with the oil and thyme.  Season with salt and pepper.  Roast, until caramelized and tender, about 20 minutes.  Drizzle with vinegar and scrape into a bowl.  Toss in walnuts.  Oh, so good!


"Stop seeing life as a problem to be solved and, instead, as a mystery to be enjoyed."
                                                                           - Terri Trespicio

"The aim of life is appreciation; there is no sense in not appreciating things; and there is no sense in having more of them if you have less appreciation of them."
                                                                            - Gilbert Keith Chesterton
                                                         

Mellow Lentil "Sniffle" Soup  (to battle those pesky colds)
    - Taken from the cookbook Eat, Drink, and be Vegan by Dreena Burton
1 TBSP olive oil
1 and 1/2 cups onion, diced
1 cup celery, diced
3/4 cups carrots, diced
3 large garlic cloves, minced
1/2 tsp sea salt
freshly ground black pepper to taste
1 tsp curry powder
1 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp dried thyme, or 1 tsp fresh
2 cups dry red lentils
3 cups vegetable stock
4 cups water
3 tsp fresh rosemary, chopped
2 TBSP apple cider vinegar

In a large pot on medium heat, add the oil, vegetables, and first five spices.  Stir to combine, then cover and cook for 7-8 minutes.  Rinse the lentils.  Add the lentils, the stock, and water to the pot.  Bring the mixture to a boil.  Reduce the heat and cover, simmering for 12-15 minutes.  Add the rosemary and simmer for 15 more minutes.  Stir in the vinegar, then season with salt and pepper just before serving.

"So I commend the enjoyment of life, because nothing is better for a man under the sun than to eat and drink and be glad. "
                                           - Ecclesiastes 8:15

If everything comes down to love,
then just what am I afraid of?
When I call out your name
Something inside awakes in my soul
How quickly I forget I'm yours
I'm not my own,
I've been carried by you all my life


Everything rides on hope now
Everything rides on faith somehow
When the world has broken me down 
Your love sets me free.  


When my life is like a storm
Rising waters, all I want is the shore
You say I'll be ok
And make it through the rain
You are
My shelter through the storm


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FDXEvkS0iPA&feature=related
                          - Hope Now, by Addison Road