Kids in the Kitchen Monday--Meatball Pizza!

We have had company this week, so I am a bit late in posting our latest cooking lesson. But as they say, better late than never, so here goes--pictures from Austin's most recent cooking adventure. For this week, he decided to make "Meatball Pizza", which is a recipe the kids love for me to make. Austin truely did a great job. He started out with getting the "meatballs" ready--actually, these are vegetarian, so there is no meat in them but that's the simpliest title to give them. Anyway, he mixed up the meatballs, and started out happily scooping them. It was great to have someone else doing this job. It's not hard, but is definately time consuming. I had to laugh, because when I came back into the kitchen a bit later I was just in time to overhear Austin muttering to himself something along the lines of "I'm not going to make meatball pizza again for a LONG time!" Ahhhhh. Music to my ears--more mother appreciation for things that I do! ;) Of course, we all LOVE meatball pizza, so I actually think that now that he knows how to make it, he should make it all the time for us, don't you all agree?

After the meatballs were made and baking in the oven, it was time to move on to the pizza dough. Austin used to have his own bread business, but his bread was always mixed up in my Bosch kitchen machine. Other than that and doing bread machine bread, he hasn't had a lot of experience in mixing bread dough by hand--and it's a bit of a challenge, even for adults who have good use of two hands! But he did a great job, mixing, mixing, mixing, mixing and it finally was kneaded pretty good.

Wait a minute! Don't you think it looks like he is having TOO much fun? I mean, this IS supposed to be school, so maybe he should at least look more serious......

Every famous chef needs a lovely assistant, so Alison graciously stepped in to fill the role. She's a good little kitchen worker, and I think her favorite medium is dough!

Yummmmmmmmm! I can almost smell it just by looking at the picture! The finished product--with crust, tomato sauce, meatballs, olives, and onions. Of course, you can add whatever you like on top, but we sure gobbled this pizza up!

Mini Meatballs

1 12.3 ounce package Mori-Nu Silken Tofu

1 medium onion

1 tsp. imitation chicken seasoning

1/4 tsp. garlic powder

1 T. Braggs Liquid Aminos or soy sauce

1 c. pecan meal

2 c. crushed saltine crackers or bread crumbs

In blender put the tofu, onion, seasoning, garlic powder and soy sauce. Blend until smooth. Pour the blended mixture into medium size bowl. Stir in the pecan meal and cracker crumbs. Shape the mixture, one teaspoon at a time, into 100 mini meatballs. Spray a cookie sheet with nonstick cooking spray and place the meatballs on the tray. Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown.

These meatballs freeze great, so when I have the time I try and make some up ahead of time so I can have them in a flash when needed. Enjoy! :D

Hat Shop

Earlier this summer our family was able to visit a living history museum when we were in Michigan visiting Grandparents. One of the buildings I really like there is an old fashioned hat shop. It is an original building, that was very carefully taken apart and then reconstructed there in Greenfield Village.

In olden days, ladies would have come into this shop to place an order for a hat--perhaps asking for a hat to be made to match a paticular outfit, or there were also matching mother/daughter hats that were made.
There are some original antique hats that are safely behind the glass cabnet doors, but some of the museum workers have also learned how to hand sew hats using the same techniques that were used back when this shop was in operation. Some of the hats are available as samples for people to try on, and they even have some that are actually for sale--though one look at the price tag told me that no matter how lovely these hats would not be coming home with us that day!
As I was thinking about all the hats, I was reminded about a hat that is being made for each one of us--a unique hat, made just for us. A very valuable hat, with a price tag that we could never afford, because this hat is actually a crown--and it cost Someone his life to get it for us. Jesus wore a crown of thorns to purchase this crown for us.

"Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day--and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing." 2 Timothy 4:8

". . . Be faithful, even to the point of death, and I will give you the crown of life." Revelation 2:10

I so look forward to that day, when Jesus will give each one of us the crown that He has made special-order for us. He is prepared and ready for us--are we ready for Him?

"I am coming soon. Hold on to what you have, so that no one will take your crown." Revelation 3:11

Kids in the Kitchen Monday!

Today was my 17 year old's day to make lunch once again. He did a great job this week, making a total of six different recipes. Yum! It was even better than last week, and last week his meal was DELICIOUS. Today he chose Mexican food, and you can see in the picture that Alison was a very willing kitchen assistant. In fact, to be honest, she shocked me with how WELL she rolled tortillas! They might not be a perfect circle, but they were exactly the right thickness--not too thin, not too thick, and no holes in the middle! Austin mixed up the dough (recipe to follow!) and then I showed him how to roll one tortilla. Alison asked to help, so I gave her one ball of dough. Austin rolled two or three, and then I showed him how to cook them. Meanwhile, Alison had finished rolling hers and asked if she could roll another. When I saw what a wonderful job she did, she ended up inheriting the rolling job completely while Austin manned (or is that "teen-aged"?) the stove.

Here's Austin cooking a tortilla in a hot, dry, frying pan.

This is a true "Happy Meal". Even the food is smiling back at us! :D

Finished stack of tortillas.....

Here is the finished meal, right before we dove in!

Things Austin made were:

1) Home made tortillas (recipe below)

2) Baked Corn chips (recipe already posted on blog)

3) Refried beans--cooked in crock pot

4) Brown rice--cooked in rice cooker

5) Vegan Cheese sauce

6) Polynesian Bars--sort of a bar cookie with date filling

Not too bad for a kid with cerebral palsy who only has use of one hand!

O.K.--here is the promised tortilla recipe--

Homemade Tortillas

1 c. whole wheat flour

2 c. white flour

dash salt

1/3 c. olive oil

1 1/4 c. water

Mix all dry ingrediants together. Mix wet and pour over dry. Mix and then knead on counter for a few minutes. Make into 12 small balls. Flatten in hand slightly, then roll on floured counter into circle. Put on a hot DRY frying pan and bake until you can move it with your fingers. Flip and cook other side. Fill with favorite filling and enjoy! :D

P.S.--I haven't tried this recipe yet with all whole wheat flour, but I will one of these days....

Look who flew in for a visit!

Meet Lola! Lola is an Amazon Parrot, and a new friend of ours. She is staying at our home temporarily while her family is back up in Wisconsin and packing to move to this area.
As you can see, Lola is VERY entertaining! Alison would like to eat all three of her meals while watching Lola, if I let her. Sometimes I do, but not every time. We are all learning a lot about parrots now. Did you know they mate for life? They live between 50 and 70 years in captivity. They also eat pretty much all fruits and vegetables, so they are definately into health. People--Americans especially--could all take a lesson from how parrots eat!
They are also VERY smart. I can tell from watching Lola that she is very thoughtful and is thinking all the time about what she sees and what you are doing. Lola is also a creationist--no evolution for this bird! She knows where she came from! Even the Bible says birds are smart, so I know it's true.......

"But ask the animals, and they will teach you, or the birds of the air, and they will tell you; or speak to the earth, and it will teach you, or let the fish of the sea inform you. Which of all these does not know that the hand of the Lord has done this?" Job 12:7-9

Honey Banana Bread

As you all know, I have been searching out high-fiber recipes lately. I ran across this recipe in one of my cook books, and was very happy to see that not only was it written for using only whole wheat flour, but also it has no added oil or fat at all--only what naturally occurs in the whole wheat flour! Needless to say, I had to try it! I think it turned out great. Tasted wonderful, only improvement "I" would give it might be to add walnuts--though of course those would also add some fat as well. But it would at least be a "healthy" fat type, and would carry fiber along with it as well! :) Another thing I liked about this recipe is that when I cut into the bread it was "dry" and not overly wet, as sometimes banana bread is for me. I am tempted to try this same recipe again, substituting zucchini, or even shredded carrots. I did have to add a tiny bit of water at the end of the mixing, as it was just a bit too dry to get all of my flour mixed in. I added no more than 1/4 cup, and I had doubled the recipe so I was making it for two loaves. Anyway, following is the recipe! Enjoy!

Honey Banana Bread

2 c. whole wheat flour

1/4 c. brown sugar

1 1/2 tsp. baking powder (I used Rumford)

3/4 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg

1 c. mashed very ripe banana (about 2 large)

1/3 c. honey

1/4 c. skim milk (I used soy milk)

Step 1) Combine the flour, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and nutmeg and stir tomix well. Add the banana, honey, and milk, and stir just until the dry ingredients are moistened.

Step 2) Coat an 8 x 4 inch loaf pan with nonstick cooking spray. Spread the mixture evenly in the pan, and bake at 325 F for 45-50 minutes, or just until a toothpick inserted in the center of the loaf comes out clean.

Step 3) Remove the bread from the oven, and let sit for 10 minutes. Invert the loaf onto a wire rack, turn right side up, and cool before slicing and serving. Yum!

Three Bean Salad

This past Monday my teen-ager had the responsibility of making lunch for us. He was wanting to have something kind of summer like, and decided on a Three Bean Salad for one of the meal components. It was absolutely delicious! There are different versions of this salad, but the one he made does not use vinegar, which I like to avoid. Our family of four snarfled it up, and there were zero leftovers. We ate it with humus and bread, with a fruit salad for dessert. If you wanted it to serve more people, it would be easy to double the recipe. Anyway, here's the recipe--enjoy! (Sorry I didn't think to take a picture of it first--we were too busy eating it! My son did take a pictue of the empty bowl, and I think he is going to post that on his blog!)

Three Bean Salad

Mix together in medium bowl:

1 can cooked kidney beans
1 can cooked green beans
1 can cooked garbanzo beans
2 green onions
1/2 can black olives, sliced
2 T. chopped pimento

Then mix dressing ingredients separately in small bowl:

1/4 c. lemon juice
1/4 c. honey
1/8 c. olive oil
1 T. soy sauce (we use Braggs)

Mix dressing together and then pour over bean mixture, stirring gently. Cover and marinate in fridge for several hours or overnight. Enjoy!

Fruit Smoothies

Recently we have been enjoying yummy fruit smoothies for supper. They are fast, refreshingly cool, usually fat free, tastes like a dessert, and you can have all the ingredients easily on-hand! What more could you ask for????

This is a picture of a smoothie I made for supper recently. The true color of the smoothie was much more pink than the photo shows, but I think the florescent light over my counter sort of washes out the true color. Anyway, I had some over ripe bananas already in my freezer--I just peel them and throw them in a freezer zip lock. Then when you want to use them, just break them into three chunks and toss into your blender. Then I had some frozen pineapple chunks and some frozen strawberries I added. You need some liquid--I used a little orange juice. You can use just water, or soy or rice milk or whatever you like! Our family of four downed this pitcher of smoothie for supper along with some toast. As my kids would say, "Slllllluuuuuuurrrrrrp! GONE!"

A Bouquet for You!

Just thought I would send a little June bouquet to everyone. Hope you enjoy this peek into our yard. Many thanks to my wonderful teen-age son for his technical advice on how to make the collage!

Smile!

Here is a picture of another of my thrift store treasures. Also found these last week-- they are a salt and pepper shaker set. We don't use pepper, so for us they are a "salt and salt" set! I don't usually buy knick knacks, because I don't like to dust them and I have two cats who will knock things over and break them (Well, one cat is good and the other one is the bad one!). But these kitties just made me smile and Alison loved them as well so I decided to buy them. They ARE useful, and they came from the thrift store where the money goes for a good cause........

One of our cats is black, and the other one is orange, though both of them are males. So we have named this little set "Mrs. Felix and Mrs. Pumpkin"!

God's Leading in Suffering

Happy Sabbath everyone!

In my devotional reading this morning I ran across something that I had not heard before. Well, I have always heard the first part of this quote, but never heard the rest of it. It kind of changes one's perspective, when you know how the full thought goes.

I was reading about the imprisonment and death of John the Baptist in the book "The Desire of Ages". I am in chapter 22, the very last page--which in my book is page 225. This is what Mrs. White says--

"God never leads His children otherwise than they would choose to be led, if they could see the end from the beginning, and discern the glory of the purpose which they are fulfilling as co-workers with Him. Not Enoch, who was translated to heaven, not Elijah, who ascended in a chariot of fire, was greater or more honored than John the Baptist, who perished alone in the dungeon. 'Unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on Him, but also to suffer for His sake.' Phil. 1:29. And of all the gifts that Heaven can bestow upon men, fellowship with Christ in His sufferings is the most weighty trust and the highest honor."

WOW! When I started reading this, I immediately thought "Oh yes, I know this quote. It's one of my favorites....." But then I kept reading past the first sentence, and my mind was completely blown away by what this quote is REALLY saying. It is not saying that we will be led down easy roads. It is not even saying that whatever happens to us is going to be good for us. Honestly, was being killed GOOD for John the Baptist???? One could debate this! If sin was GOOD for us, well, we would not have needed a Savior to come and save us FROM sin, right? But what I pick up from this quote is that 1) God will led us, 2) if we knew what God knows, we would agree with His leading, 3) we will not be saved from all bad and terrible things--not on this sinful earth anyway, 4) even if we are chosen to suffer for Christ, we will not be forgotten but instead will have been given a great trust. Seems to me that it would definately be easier to be translated to heaven, or to be taken up in a chariot of fire, than to be left to perish in a dungeon. Is this multiple choice? Can we pick????

I think it all comes down to trust. Do we trust Jesus enough to go through whatever we may go through on this old earth, and still trust and love Him? Or are we what might be called "a fair-weather friend?" Jesus sticks with us through thick and thin--do we stick with Him through the same?

"Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him..." Job 13:15

SomeBUNNY wants in!

"You mean the bunny bar is already closed?" Can't you just imagine what this little cottontail is thinking? I saw him looking longingly through the bunny fence this morning, probably wondering why last year he was able to get into my garden bed and eat up ALL of our baby beet greens and then this year he can't do the same! So I guess our bunny fence is working--so far, anyway! I thought he was just adorable--OUTSIDE of my garden bed. The picture isn't the greatest, as I had no other option but to take it through the window screen from the house, but I still wanted to share it with everyone!

Little Bookworm

We have a little Bookworm that lives in our house. I went to our local thrift store this week, and came home with this stack of really nice books for only $3.00. Two are lengthy nature books that have information on two different animals in each book. The other four are spiritual books based on principles found in the book Steps to Christ.
I was thrilled to be able to get them to help supply our homeschool library. And when we are all finished with them, we can always donate them back and they can bless another child! (In addition the money this paticular thrift store takes in goes to help people in our community with food and utilities when they are having trouble making ends meet, so I like helping for that cause as well!) I remember one of my favorite campmeeting memories was when my mom would go to the big book sale, and bring back a wagon-load of missionary books (I am not exaggerating here!). They would keep me busy for a while, but I always finished them up and couldn't wait for the next campmeeting to get more! One can never have too many books, or too many friends! (Though when moving, I do advise keeping the friends and letting SOME of the books go! ;) )