Bread for the Journey

Dressed Right

Isaiah 61:10

My soul rejoices in my God. For He has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of His righteousness. 

A few weeks ago during my quiet time with the Lord, I felt a flood of shame creep over me as the Holy Spirit gave light to an area of my life that I had been ignoring. I'm thankful that I didn't ignore Him, but admitted to Him my lack of obedience in that area of my life and asked for His forgiveness.  He's always faithful to forgive us our sins. He's such a good Father.

In Zechariah 3 we read about the prophet Joshua who was dressed in filthy clothes and God replaced those with rich garments. It's a beautiful picture of how God sees us in our filth, but forgives us and clothes us in His righteousness. 

As I sat with the Lord that morning I felt shame, but He lovingly reminded me that He wanted me to be fully clean. He knows best and if we are open to His discipline and correction in our lives and choose to obey Him, we can live without shame or guilt. It felt so good to take off that unattractive smelly garment and allow Him to reclothe me with the garment He desired for me all along. It's not restricting or uncomfortable, but fits so perfectly, because it's tailor made for me by my Father in Heaven who knows me best. 

Our Father is so good and often when He does some cleaning up in our lives He lovingly comes along side us with encouragement to help us keep on going on the right path. For me it came in the form of a word picture. My dear friend Julie emailed and said she was sending me a little gift box to open. Inside that imaginary box was the word FRAGRANCE, with the encouragement to apply daily. I thought about how I've been diligent each day to 'dress rightly' for the Lord, to allow Him to clothe me each day in garments of righteousness, and now added to that to be a sweet fragrance for Him. 

Isaiah 32:17 says, "The fruit of that righteousness will be peace: it's effect will be quietness and confidence forever." 

Do you see yourself as Christ sees you? Clothed in His righteousness? 

Peace, quietness, confidence! We can experience these fruits in our lives when we are dressed right.

Another look into Kathy's Kitchen

Welcome back to my happy place.

 The day I originally posted our kitchen renovation the window treatments were being hung. One of our commenters asked what we chose, so I thought I'd give you another look. We have a lovely view  from the large windows all across the back of our house and from the corner sink windows above the  sink which we wanted to maintain, but we also wanted the flexibility of privacy as well as energy efficiency. We chose Hunter Douglas top down bottom up pleated shades throughout the whole house. Some have a remote for easy use. As you can see in the photo they can be positioned at various heights, or all the same. It's been a good choice for all the needs we had.

Behind the wall of the fridge and oven is our dining area. This space fit the furniture we brought from our last home. We still have the room to add two leaves to the table and seat 12 comfortably. Since the living area is on this side of the table it allows us room to add an extension table to this end, giving us room to seat 16.

Not much else has changed since my previous post except that our home is becoming well seasoned with visits from family and friends.


Speaking of seasoning....
if you don't have salt and pepper mills, I recommend that a good set is well worth it.

Today I'd like to acknowledge one of our Mennonite Girls Can Cook blog sponsors.

Winks Home Garden and Gifts  is a beautiful shop in Chilliwack BC, and they carry these Peugeot pepper and salt mills in a variety of colours and sizes. Peugeot mills make a lovely gift, and at Winks you will always leave with your purchase beautifully gift wrapped.

 At Winks you will also find our cookbooks tucked into their beautifully merchandised shelves. From a heart of kindness, care and generosity Winks uses all proceeds from cookbook sales to help those in need.

Thank you for your ongoing support Winks!

Potato Flax Bread - Gluten Free

Flashback Friday -- I have previously posted a Potato/Flaxseed recipe here , but I have been working at improving it to come up with a recipe that is 'fool proof' in that it turns out the same every time and can be depended on to do so. Also to end up with a loaf that has good flavour , a dry crumb (important in gf bread, because the alternative can be moist/slimy), and a nice rise.

I think the following recipe meets those goals ...

• 1/4 cup potato water (from boiling the potato - if no potato water, just use water) 
• 1/4 cup water 
• 1 tsp sugar 
• 1 1/2 tbsp traditional yeast 
• 1 tbsp molasses or honey
• 1/2 cup milk 
• 3 eggs 
• 1/4 cup oil
• 1/3 cup mashed potatoes 
• 1 3/4 cups Julie's Flour 
• 1/2 cup flaxseed meal 
• 1 tsp salt 
• 1 tsp baking powder 
• 1 tsp xanthan gum

1. Boil peeled cut- up potato until fork soft  (either on stovetop or microwave) - or use left-over mashed potatoes to make 1/3 cup.  Save the water.  
2. Proof yeast and sugar in the 1/2 cup warm/hot water, until doubled
3. Put potatoes, with eggs , milk, oil and  molasses in blender for a minute or so until perfectly smooth
4. Pour liquids , including proofed yeast into mixer bowl and blend
5. Mix together dry ingredients and add all at once to the liquids - blend on low, then beat on high for about 5-7 minutes.  Texture should be soft and fluffy looking - about the consistency of muffin batter. 
   
6. Scrape into a parchment (bottom, long sides only) lined loaf pan (I like glass) and smooth top with a wet hand. Cover with plastic wrap (or cover with an inverted pie plate to avoid having to pull plastic wrap off the risen loaf. Let rise in a warm place until dough rounds the top of pan. 
7. Bake at  400 degrees for 10 minutes, then for 40 minutes at 350 degrees ...  remove from pan and let cool on rack to room temp. before slicing.  It should be a nice rounded loaf without noticeable shrinking.  
8. This bread is a good keeper and freezes well. 

Meatloaf- Bev's Favourite

My friend Delores submitted this meatloaf recipe to a church cookbook we assembled back in the 1980's and it's been my favourite ever since.(I will admit to tweaking the original recipe a bit.)

The grated carrot makes it very moist and is a sneaky way to get your children to eat their vegetables.

• 2 eggs 
• 1/2 cup milk
• 3 slices brown bread crumbled
• 1/2 cup finely chopped onion
• 1/2 cup finely shredded raw carrot
• 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon pepper
• 1 1/2 pounds lean ground beef
• 3 tablespoons brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon dry mustard
• 1/4 cup ketchup

1. In a large bowl, beat eggs, add milk, bread, onion, carrots, Worcestershire sauce and salt and pepper.  Mix well until bread is mostly incorporated.
2. Add ground beef and mix well, making sure all ingredients are evenly distributed.
3. Pack into a glass or metal loaf pan or pan of your choice.
4. Mix brown sugar and mustard in a small bowl.
5. Add ketchup and mix again.
6. Spread ketchup mixture evenly over the top of the meatloaf.
7. Bake in preheated 350º F oven for about 1 hour.  
8. Lift loaf out of pan onto serving plate and let stand 10 minutes before slicing and serving.

Roasted Tomato and Corn Soup (for two)

The only thing that takes a bit of time to put this delicious soup together is roasting the tomatoes, during which time your kitchen takes on a wonderful aroma. If you want to be able to get this soup ready in less than 15 minutes, have the blended, roasted tomatoes ready ahead of time.

Ingredients:

• 8 - 10 ripe, medium sized tomatoes. roughly chopped
• 3 cloves garlic
• 3 Tbsp olive oil. divided
• 1/2 tsp cumin
• 1/2 onion, finely chopped
• 1 jalapeno, finely chopped (optional)
• 1 cup frozen corn
• 1 cup chicken broth or water with 2 rounded tsp better than bouillon
• 1 cup milk
• 1/4 tsp ground coriander
• 1/8 tsp chili
• 2 Tbsp chopped cilantro or green onions

Method;

1. Preheat oven to 375 F. Spray roasting pan with cooking spray.
2. Spread chopped or quartered tomatoes on pan along with peeled, whole garlic cloves. Drizzle with half the olive oil and sprinkle with cumin. Roast 30 - 45 min or just until tomatoes are soft and begin to brown on the edges. Cool
3. To medium cooking pot, add the rest of the oil, the onions and jalapeno (if using). Cook until tender, about 5 minutes, then add corn and cook until it starts to brown. Add broth.
4. Blend cooled tomatoes in blender, adding milk a little bit at a time. *
5. Add tomato puree to pot, along with coriander and chili.  Bring to simmer. Adjust seasonings to taste.
6. Top with chopped green onion or cilantro and serve with crusty bread.

* I'm not sure if this is the answer to stop a curdling problem, but it has worked for me. I use 2% milk. In general, whole milk or cream work best for any cream soups. Also, add any salt if needed, at the end.

Bread For The Journey

Image courtesy of LifeHopeandTruth.com Shareables

We have all been at those life crossroads where we feel we are jumping into mid air, with nothing there to hold on to!
Grace -- the GIFT of God ...
Ask anyone for a definition of grace and they will say ... "unmerited favor".   And yes, it is grace that makes available to us the gift of salvation - by grace through faith we are born again!  Unmerited completely, we did nothing to deserve God's forgiveness and in His love willing to make the ultimate sacrifice to gain the forgiveness of our sin.

In Luke 2:40 it reads, referring to Jesus  ... "and the Child grew and became strong in spirit, filled with wisdom and the grace of God was upon Him." 
Is 'unmerited favor' interchangeable with 'grace' in that verse?   Hardly - There is nothing in Jesus that was 'unmerited' ...  If He had received grace from God and it was 'unmerited' , He could not have been the Lamb of God - the sinless, perfect sacrifice.

So ... have we missed something?  Is there something  more to this 'grace' that God offers us?  More than providing an undeserved entrance into the Kingdom of God?

There is another verse in Hebrews that reads ... "Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need." Heb. 4:16
Here we are clearly told that 'grace' is something we can ask for on an ongoing basis -  to "help us in time of need."
From this verse it is clear that grace is also 'enabling strength'  to help us in our weakness.
Does 'enabling strength' fit in the Luke verse above?  I think it does! Jesus was God but He was also fully Man and therefore needed the enabling grace of God to fulfill His purposes - even as we do.

When we are free falling - shocked by tragedy - overwhelmed by what faces us - betrayed or deeply disappointed by a loved one - feeling so inadequate for the task facing us - does God offer us more 'grace' ?
YES, He does!
When we are afraid, when we do not know where to go, we can come BOLDLY and ask for 'more grace'.  Why boldly?  Because there is no doubt that God will grant us the grace we need.  He will help!!  His promises are sure!  His strength is made perfect in our weakness.

"O Father, I need more grace!  more grace! Every morning, and throughout the day, I come to your throne to ask for the enabling strength I need to walk through this my earthly life."

Slow Cooker Veggie Curry

You can prepare this dish ahead of time storing it in a large storage bag sealing tightly with all the air squeezed out for up to 2 days in the refrigerator before cooking in slow cooker. You can freeze it to thaw and cook at a later date. I found this idea in a grocery store flyer.

Ingredients:

• 1 can (14 oz.) chickpeas/garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 head cauliflower florets cut to bite sized pieces
• 1/2 lb. green beans, trimmed (I used asparagus)
• 1 sweet potato, washed and diced
• 1 red onion, sliced
• 1 tomato, diced
• 1/2 cup shredded carrot
• 3 cups vegetable broth
• 1 cup light coconut milk
• 1 tsp. curry powder
• 1 tsp. tumeric
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. pepper
• chopped fresh cilantro, for garnish

Method:

1. Combine all ingredients (excluding cilantro) in a large plastic storage bag sealing tightly to store.
2. Refrigerate for up to 2 days in the refrigerator or freeze.
3. When ready to use empty the plastic bag contents into slow cooker and cover.
4. If frozen, thaw contents before putting into slow cooker and cover.
5. Cook on low setting for 4 hours.
6. Serve topped with cilantro.  

Alternate Method:

1. Combine all ingredients (excluding cilantro) in the crock pot.
2. Cook on low setting for 4 hours.
3. Serve topped with cilantro. 

Depending on the size of your cauliflower this will serve 4- 8 people.
Judy's Naan bread would go well with this curry.
Here's what it looks like before it is cooked.

Meatballs with Ricotta and Marinara

We have enjoyed meatballs with ricotta and marinara sauce at restaurants for an appetizer and so I've started to make it at home.  It's simple, can be used as an appetizer or as a main dish with pasta. 

• 1/2  pound ground beef
• 1/2  pound mild Italian Sausages, casings removed
• small handful chopped basil
• small handful chopped parsley
• 1/4 cup ricotta cheese
• 1 egg
• 1/2  cup dried bread crumbs
• 1 tablespoon oil (for frying)

• 1 large jar marinara sauce
• 1 cup ricotta cheese
• 1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese for garnish

1. Combine the ground beef, sausage meat, basil, parsley, egg and bread crumbs.
2. Form into 1 1/2 inch balls and fry in batches in a cast iron fry pan.  You will have more than enough for an appetizer.  Set aside remaining meatballs and refrigerate to make appetizers for another day, (like the meatballs in the top left-hand corner of the collage) or make this as a larger appetizer in a 9X13-inch pan. 
3. Arrange meatballs in cast iron pan.  Cover with marinara sauce and bake @350F until sauce is bubbling in the center.  
4. Drop spoonfuls of ricotta cheese between the meatballs and return pan to oven for 10 minutes. 
5. Sprinkle with parmesan cheese and serve with a fresh sliced baguette!

Meatballs can be made ahead and refrigerated and put together with remaining ingredients later.  

Orange Ginger Chicken Lettuce Wraps

I've come to really like lettuce wraps at some restaurants in town and although I have not been able to totally copy those versions, this one is pretty good. It's quick preparation and  serves a nice meal for two or as an appetizer for more.

Ingredients:

• 2 chicken breasts or 4 - 5 thighs, boneless
• 1/3 cup Panko crumbs
• 1/3 cup flour
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp chili
• pepper
• 1 egg
• 2 Tbsp oil for browning

sauce:

• 1/3 cup chili sauce
• 2 Tbsp Sambal Oelek sauce
• 2 Tbsp rice vinegar
• 2 Tbsp fresh grated ginger
• orange zest from 1 orange
• 1 Tbsp soy sauce
• 1 garlic clove, crushed

crunch, garnish additions, etc:

• 1/2 cup finely chopped roasted peanuts
• liberal sprinkle of toasted sesame seeds
• 3 Tbsp chopped green onion 
• wonton strips*
• iceberg lettuce, cut in half through the stem and rinsed

Method:

1. Chop chicken into popcorn sized pieces
2. Mix crumbs, flour, salt, chili and pepper in plastic bag or shallow bowl. Add chicken to coat.
3. In a small bowl, beat egg with fork, then coat the chicken in small batches, removing the pieces to a plate. 
4. Pour the leftover crumb mix over chicken pieces to coat again. 
5. Heat oil in non stick fry pan to medium heat, adding chicken to brown all sides.
6. In the meantime, prepare sauce and add to chicken once it is golden brown and cooked through. Stir to heat. 
7. Just before serving, stir in peanuts, sesame seeds, green onion and arrange on serving platter, topped with wonton strips. Serve with lettuce leaves, to form wraps.

* I found the wonton strips in the fruit and vegetable area with salad toppers

Photos from left to right: Browning coated chicken pieces. Adding sauce. Adding peanuts, toasted sesame seeds and green onion. Ready to serve. 

Bread for the Journey

To him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine...

Ephesians 3:20 NIV

There are times when the circumstances in which we find ourselves leave us discouraged.

I have friends going through very difficult times right now. They do not know what the future will hold.

It was in February, some two decades ago that I found myself in a very hopeless situation.  As a result of a car accident my husband was left with serious back injuries.  We never knew whether he would walk again, never mind work. How would we continue to operate our dairy farm? One day at a time, God provided the help, the strength and hope for tomorrow. My husband is walking, working and still farming.That is beyond what we would have ever imagined!


 Is there anything too hard for God? Absolutely not!

He can provide peace, strength, and courage to face whatever you are up against.
Don't give up.
Put your hope in Him.

There are no limits to what God can do.

He can do far more than what we might ask of Him...
more than we can even imagine.
 
Imagine that!