Thanksgiving Week

While many are spending this week preparing for Thanksgiving Dinner, I am not.

 Since I cook for only three, I don't spend a lot of time preparing ahead because I really don't want to be eating Thanksgiving food for the next week and a half.  I usually cook only a few of our favorite dishes along with a turkey breast and one dessert. Curious in what I'll be cooking?

• Turkey Breast
• Cornbread Dressing and Gravy
• Green Bean Casserole
• Sweet Potato Casserole (this really could be considered a dessert, but...)
• Deviled Eggs
• Triple Chocolate Dessert

I'll be sharing my recipes for the side dishes and the dessert in the next coming weeks.

Hunting on Thanksgiving morning is a tradition that my husband has had since he was a little boy. He and Jamie will be hunting together again this year.  Later on in the afternoon, we will be going to the national forest to cut down our Christmas tree. I've been counting down the days for this since last year. With the loss of a job and a cross country move last year, we had a skimpy Christmas and I did not put up a tree. So this year, I am planning a festive Christmas season.

Jamie and I are also enjoying a break from school work this week.  We have been busy non-stop since we returned from our trip to Georgia. I was not really planning on a whole week for a break, but staying busy for fifty school days straight deserves a little break time. Of course, with a break from doing school work, doesn't mean I am taking a break. I have been in the planning mode for the next several months. I just hope my printer ink will hold out until I'm finished.

Sharing a verse we finished memorizing last week:

Philippians 4:6 Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.

Created for a Purpose

The women found in the Bible have a story to tell. It’s important for use to listen to their story because we can learn much from them. Eve, the first woman to ever be created by the hands of God had a purpose just like you and me.

Created for a Purpose

I am reading through the book All the Women of the Bible by Edith Deen.  Inside this little gem you will find all the women who are mentioned whether by name or by an association of an event going on in the Bible.  I came across this book sitting on the bookshelf at my parent's house, it belonged to my grandparents originally. After flipping through the pages, I quietly slipped it into my things, hoping no one would ever ask about it. So far, so good!

Several months ago, I started journaling some ideas that really stood out to me while reading. The first chapter is all about Eve. Have you ever wondered what she must have looked like? To be personally created by God's hand, formed from Adam's rib. To have perfect hair, skin and the perfect figure (I think most of us would be surprised by what God considers the perfect body). She was a perfect, sinless being. She must have been amazing!

Eve was created for a purpose. She was meant to be Adam's helper and completeness. I love this thought that is found in this chapter. "The real essence of the story is that man and woman were made for each other, that woman is bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh, therefore they are not all that God intended them to be until they are together." There's nothing more to say about it, it speaks for itself.

Marriage is a divine institution; God intended for it to be holy and pure. Marriage was and still is intended for one man and one woman only. Eve was created to be an equal, not a doormat for Adam. She was not to be the head of the household, but submissive to the head, her husband.

Knowing how Eve was close to the Lord and that she spent time with Him in the Garden of Eden on a daily basis is a little hard to understand how she was easily tempted. But she was and made a ghastly mistake; she chose to eat of the fruit and encouraged Adam to partake of it. Of course, her sin had a lasting consequence on all people.

Thankfully, we have a Heavenly Father who is FORGIVING, GRACE GIVING, MERCIFUL, and LOVING.  A Heavenly Father who is willing to send his ONLY Son to earth to take the place of our sin.

Just like Eve, you and I have been Created for a Purpose.

Red Beans and Rice

Red Beans and Rice can be a non frugal dish. If you have left over ham, perfect. If not, keep reading.

Two years ago, when I decided to try making Red Beans and Rice, I was on the hunt for frugal meal ideas.  I wanted to add more frugalness to my Master Menu Plan for when times are a little leaner than others. Sadly, this does not fall into the category of frugal in my mind, but it is a rather inexpensive meal. While it is inexpensive, it is so yummy!

I have learned to embrace my crock pot! I use it for cooking dried beans over night so they are ready for the next day. This keeps me from having to soak, speed cook, blow torch and whatever else you would have to do to cook those little pieces of hardness to use in a recipe. If you are in an area like me, where dried small red beans are few and far between, but you can find canned red beans, use them. I have and they worked out beautifully! Kidney beans can even be used, but... yeah, my husband and son do not think of them as the perfect bean for Red Beans and Rice.

I'm all for not using every pot and pan in my kitchen to prepare a meal.  I love the idea of cooking in one pot and this is the perfect recipe to do just that, after you have the beans cooked.

RED BEANS AND RICE

1 pound dried, small red beans
½ pound of bacon, chopped
1 package (14 oz.) andouille sausage or smoked sausage, sliced
1 large onion, chopped
1 green bell pepper, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, minced
black pepper, to taste
¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper, or to taste, optional
1 teaspoon dried basil
2 bay leaves
½ tablespoon  oil (if you use turkey bacon)
2 quarts of water
salt to taste, if needed (AT THE END OF COOKING)
Hot, cooked rice


Rinse and sort beans and place into a crock pot, adding water to cover beans plus about an inch or so. Do not add any seasonings or salt, cook on low overnight. When ready to cook the rest of the ingredients, drain the beans and keep them in a separate container.

In a a large pot, cook the bacon until lightly cooked. Add the sausage, onion and bell pepper to the bacon and sauté the veggies until tender. Add the seasonings to the mixture and cook for about 3 minutes, keep stirring.  Add the beans to the pot and add two quarts of water and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer and cook uncovered for about 30 minutes. If you need to thicken the juice up a bit more, remove about a cup of the beans and mash them and return them to the pot. Serve over hot, cooked rice.

Be prepared for amazing leftovers, since the juice thickens over time. YUM!

Memorizing God's Word

Bible Memory is very important in our home. There are so many precious words of our Lord contained in the Bible that we all should memorize.  Today, I'm sharing my method of memorizing God's Word.

As a Christian mom, I make sure we have our daily BIBLE TIME if nothing else is accomplished during our day. Without that special moment in the mornings, our day usually will go to the dogs. If you haven't guessed by now, the Bible IS the foundation of education in our home.

I remember when I was a little girl, we would DRILL Bible verses ALL. THE. TIME. It worked, because I can still quote those verse. They have been hidden in my heart and they are easily accessible when I need to remember one.

I am not a DRILL mother nor a Bible verse testing mother. We just do not sit and quote verses several times throughout the day and before bed. As for the testing, when I was growing up, I was able to learn verses for the weekly test at school, but I did not memorize them. When I taught school, I truly believed testing over the memorization of verses was for the birds and defeated the purpose of having my students memorize them.  If they were honest, many of those students would probably admit to learning them enough for the test. Children should memorize Bible verses for the memorization and application, not for a weekly quiz.

Over the years of being at home, I searched for other methods of learning verses other than the DRILL METHOD. When I found this ONE, I knew this would work for our family. I did modify my cards a little differently than what is explained on that page; I left out the even/odd card.

While my date (1-31) cards were filling up, I assigned a number for every school day. When we came to that number, we reviewed the verse behind that card. Every week, verses were being reviewed until the cards filled up and then it was bi-weekly and so on.

Another thing I do differently, I have a "short" verse(s) card and a passage card that we work on every week day. We spend quite awhile on long passages like Exodus 20 (Ten Commandments) but, we are also hiding shorter passages in our hearts that are being filed more quickly.

To help in memorizing some verses that are a little difficult, I added Scripture Typer. We've been using it since April and love it. Typing the verses out for practice has helped with memorization and typing for Jamie.

If you notice in the picture, I do not use an actual box. Those little boxes are too bulky for me to haul to the kitchen table every morning. I sewed my card file so I can keep it in my notebook for easy storage and mobility. It has a two inch bottom and once I need a bigger one, I'll make a bigger container.

Here is my LIST of verses that are in my card container. I love this method of memorizing; it doesn't come across as rigid but instead as a laid back method for memorizing that works. That is something I LOVE!

Grinder, Soap, Cookies, and Bread... Oh My!

I've been quite the busy beaver around here the last few days. Things from school work to knitting and everything in between has been worked on. With this time change, I feel like my day is quickly spent when lunch time rolls around. I really dislike the falling back one hour; I had rather have the daylight in the evenings, so they don't seem quite as drawn out.

Most of the FUN has been in the kitchen ~ a place I love to be.

We spent Saturday in Billings, doing some shopping.While we were there, my husband picked up a small meat grinder after hearing the prices that are being charged for game meat processing in this area. We are used to a flat $40 for grinding all the meat and we just couldn't swallow the idea of spending $100 for each animal that he would take in to be processed. Any deer meat he brings home is always ground because that is the most used type of venison we cook with. Occasionally, we would get butterfly steaks cut, but ground meat around here is the way it goes.

We also knew we wanted to start buying whole pork tenderloins and roasts to grind for sausage and to slice for boneless pork chops. So while we were at Sam's we picked up a ten pound package of pork roast. I sliced up one roast and have several freezer bags full and we also got eight pounds of fresh ground pork that was made into SAUSAGE. Let me tell you something... this batch of sausage tastes so much better than it did when I was buying the ground pork.  Maybe it has something to do with the idea of grinding the pork ourselves, and actually knowing what is in that bowl of ground pork. ~ The whole pork and nothing but the pork!

On Monday, I spent ALL DAY LONG in the kitchen. Can you believe, I even forgot to go back and make up the bed after my husband left for work? Yeah, that just never happens here, but it did on Monday. My mouth hit the floor when I walked into the bedroom after cleaning up the supper dishes; I was in SHOCK over finding an unmade bed.

Wondering why I spent all day in the kitchen? Well, I had to make laundry soap. Yes, I'm still making my own. It's cheaper than store-bought and cleans so much better. Even with the scary tasting water we have here (no, we are still not drinking it) I have found that the soap cleans quite well.

I searched for a peanut butter cookie recipe where the cookie would stay soft, so I tried making THIS recipe. As of the time of this writing (Tuesday afternoon), they are still nice and soft. Not too peanuty though, I  like to taste the peanut butter in my cookies.

While I was searching for a cookie recipe, I decided to look for another bread recipe to use for sandwiches and I think I may have found a keeper. Twelve hours after it sitting in the bread box, the bread is still nice and soft. I used it for our lunch yesterday and it passed the test. The one important test for homemade sandwich bread recipe is the lunchbox test...it past! My husband told me it wasn't as fluffy as store-bought, but it is very good and tastes better than my original recipe. WHAT???

This particular recipe calls for buttermilk and is a little soft. I call it soft because it doesn't become stiff or form a ball like most bread recipes. I even added an extra cup of flour *YIKES!* to stiffen up the dough.

I can't wait for later today, I'm planning on making another loaf. There's some tweaking that is needing to be done, so I will have the actual recipe to share. As you can see the loaf rises and spreads out a little.  That is one of the tweaks I need to work on.

It may not be the prettiest loaf of bread I've made, but it sure is the best tasting!

Savory Succotash

There is something about eating foods that were eaten in the past. As a history loving mom, I'm on the look out for these types of recipes. I do this so I can learn about the history of them. Savory Succotash is just one of these recipes.

I'm really not sure why Jamie asked me about Succotash several months ago;  maybe because he still enjoys old cartoons. Since then, I had wanted to find a good recipe for Succotash, but could not find anything that sparked an interest until after the history of it was explained and the dish cooked on a live cooking show on our local PBS channel.

Succotash dates back to Colonial days using bear grease and the use of winter veggies. Now, I'm not one who keeps a can of bear grease on hand, so bacon grease it is!

If bear grease smells anything like a bear, I'll stick with my Porky Pig in a jar that is tucked away in my refrigerator door.

Anything cooked in REAL bacon grease must be good, right? Well, let me tell you, THIS. IS. OUT. OF. THIS. WORLD. CRAZY. GOOD!

There is something wonderful about this recipe; it can be an all vegetable side dish, or you can make it like I did the second time by adding chicken and it be the main dish for a meal.

It's hard to believe I second guessed myself when it comes to a dish cooked in bacon grease, but I did the first time I cooked it. I left out the chicken just to make sure the other two were going to like it.

Let's just say, food was flying like there was no tomorrow.

If you are a turkey bacon fan; don't even try it! Nope, Nope, Nope! Do not ruin this dish by using bird bacon, use the real thing ~ whole hog is the way to go!  I cooked this dish two times and the second time (yesterday) I used turkey bacon... BIG FAIL!  You  know turkey bacon does not really crisp unless it is at the point of burning. Even if it does get crispy it will end up soft and limp by the time you are ready to eat. Crispy bacon = bacony bits to crunch on. You can see the what I'm talking about in the picture above. JUST DON'T DO IT, you will thank me later!

If you say "A WHOLE PACK OF BACON?!?!?!" remember packaging is not a whole pound anymore and this recipe is easy to adapt for your tastes.  I never buy real bacon anymore because it is so expensive out here, so turkey bacon is usually bought. The first time I cooked this dish with real bacon and it was a REAL TREAT.

Succotash

1 package bacon cut into pieces
2 chicken breast cut into bite size pieces
½ red bell pepper diced
½ green bell pepper diced
1 onion diced
1 cup squash
1 can lima beans drained
1 can corn drained
salt to taste
pepper to taste
garlic powder to taste

In a large hot frying pan, cook bacon until done. Remove bacon and drain all but about two tablespoons of grease and add chicken. Cook the chicken until almost done. Add both bell peppers and onion and continue cooking. Add squash; continue cooking. Add beans, corn and bacon, allow the corn and beans to heat through. Season to taste.

I'm going to tell a secret here... If you follow this recipe, you will have enough left overs for lunch the next day, unless you are feeding a football team or an army.

Christian Theology and Ancient Polytheism; a Review

Every Christian home should be teaching their children to have a Christian worldview, not just leaving it up to the church. As a homeschooling mom, teaching my son to have a worldview through a Christian perspective was important to me. Christian Theology and Ancient Polytheism digs in deep for a deeper learning without being too complicated.

I am way behind on posting this, but I wanted to really get into the book so I would know how to give my honest opinion.

affiliate links included

Now that we have been able to spend several weeks studying this curriculum non stop, I am amazed! For a memory refresher, I spent two days reviewing over A Young Historians Introduction to Worldview. Jamie was able to "teach" me what we had learned back at the end of May. The hands-on learning is eye opening and easily helps in understanding differences.  You can read my review for A Young Historians Introduction to Worldview HERE.



I can not say enough about  the Christian Theology and Ancient Polytheism book. My heart and mind is still amazed at what I am relearning about my Christianity.  This wonderful book is meaty and thought provoking while yet simple enough for a middle school child to use and learn from.

There are not any "lesson plans" for CTAP, but is it very easy to use. There are twenty five lessons and each lesson can last for five days. There are some longer lessons that will need more time to cover.  You will also need to read Secret of the Scribe which goes along with CTAP. I break down each lesson so it will last between four and five days.

We are using the comparison charts that are found in the back of the book. I'm super excited about copies of the charts that have answers so I can help in getting the thought juices flowing.  I made copies of each one and placed them in a notebook for easy use. Having Jamie write in his own words regarding what we have talked about has helped him in retaining what he has learned.

Learning about ancient cultures and how they worshiped is something that never really crossed my mind until now. Teaching Jamie how the days of the week were all named after a god or goddess and how the people spent each day worshiping a different god,  could have been a little out of my comfort zone, but there was a enough information in the book to hit the nail on the head. We were able to do a little more online research to take what was given and spend extra time on the matter. Quite eye-opening for a fourteen year old!

In lesson four, Marcia wrote about how God is INCORRUPTABLE and because of this, we CAN STILL  HAVE a RELATIONSHIP with Him. An A-M-A-Z-I-N-G point to teach children! This point is well written and easy to understand at any age.

Growing up in a Christian school, I was drilled theology questions and answers, but never was there a time when a teacher taught us why we believe what we do by using the Bible. All those verses that were included, were never once read or explained. Once we were in high school, I had friends begin questioning why we believed a certain way.  Again, no teachers would give a good reason, other than we are the correct way in believing and we are not to question what we had been taught. As parents, it is OUR responsibility to make sure OUR children know why we have the beliefs we do. It should not be left up to someone else to guide your children spiritually, because they will encounter those who really do not know themselves.

If nothing else is bought to teach your children about worldview and their Christian beliefs, the Christian Theology and Ancient Polytheism and Secret to the Scibe books are a must for every Christian family.

Again, I can not say enough about Brimwood Press Worldview Curriculum. It is definitely a keeper for me. Of all the books that have come through our home, this is one of the few that will stay.

**I was sent a free worldview bundle to review in return for my honest opinion. The links to the products are referral links and will cost you nothing if you choose to make a purchase.**

Making Self Rising Flour

I  became accustomed to buying ALL PURPOSE FLOUR when we moved last year.  Why, when I am a self rising flour snob? There are two reasons:  #1 self rising flour is  hard to find in this area (I spent three shopping trips in hope of finding it and I found ZERO, ZIP, ZILCH, NADA, NOTHING) #2 if I am able to find it, the price is  $4.00 for a five pound bag. So yeah, I have come to realize it is so much cheaper to just make my own Self Rising Flour. Talk about easy to make... Boy, it is easy and you probably have everything in your pantry to make your own.

I went to the King Arthur Flour website since they have many recipes there. There is also an explanation about the protein level in their flour. Well, I don't use their flour but I did take into consideration what they explained. I have found with the flour I use, I have not had any problems with toughness or having to use more liquid. Just to let you know, at the moment I am using Gold Medal flour. Shhh... I found it for $1.25 a bag and bought all that was on the shelf at Wal*mart. I came out of the store that night a happy person; I have enough flour to get me through the holidays.  I have also used the flour found at Sam's Club with the same outcome ~ yummy biscuits!

My flour container will easily hold 16 cups of flour, so when I mix up a batch of SR flour, I put everything in my mixer and mix away.  Easy, easy, easy!

** I use my homemade baking powder in this and have had NO problems.**

~Self Rising Flour~

For 1 cup:                              For 4 cups:                       For 8 cups:       
1 cup flour                          4 cups flour                      8 cups flour
1½ tsp baking powder        2 Tbs baking powder       4 Tbs baking powder
¼ tsp salt                             1 tsp salt                          2 tsp salt

Mix everything well and use as you would in your recipes.