A comparison of God's word and a well set table.
Matthew 4:4 But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.
We like to see a well provided table - plenty to go around, food that will be filling and flavorful.
Many of us appreciate an attractively set table - dishes, food, flowers, tablecloth, etc. all in a pleasant arrangement.
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The Lord has set beautiful table for us in His word.
Root vegetables are a good way to make a winter salad. This beet and carrot slaw style salad with fresh apples and lemon juice from Sister in the Mid-west sounds like it would be refreshing and very nutrient rich.
By the way, I was thinking that a handful of fresh cranberries before shredding or a handful of dried ones added afterwards could add a nice flavor variation. Also, if it isn't quite sweet enough for you a bit of honey or your other favorite sweetening could be added. This is a versatile recipe. You can make variations. It would be good served with a variety of meals as well, or added to sandwiches or wraps. The color alone makes it a winner for making winter meals pretty. :-)
JES at Strangers and Pilgrims on Earth shared these nice ideas for decorating our houses with natural things for autumn. Since Thanksgiving is approaching in the U.S. I thought some readers might be interested in some ideas for simple, potentially inexpensive decorations.
JES got her ideas from The Pottery Barn, but she explains how to do them with things that you may have on hand. For the clear vases she recommends canning jars, but you could use clear glass vases if you have them or the clear glass chimney part of an oil lamp or candle. Even glass bowls will work as I did above.
You may also like one of my old posts from the “Shop Your Own Stuff” series about Bringing the Outside In.
Here I used a small pumpkin that I bought and some pine cones. The leaves I used are fake, but if you still have real leaves that are pretty in your area you could collect some for this. You could also cut some out of craft paper or fabric.
Ok, I’m very tempted to call this “The BEST Texas Sheet Cake Ever”, but that might be a bit over ambitious! Anyway, it’s the best I’ve ever had. :-) My friend Elisabeth shared the recipe with me. I don’t know where she got the original, but I understood that her mom made some changes to it. So, here’s how to make the “yummieness” as I’ve experienced it. :-)
Mocha Texas Sheet Cake
In a large saucepan add:
2 sticks butter
1 cup water
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp instant coffee granules
Heat the above ingredients, mixing well, until butter is melted. Set aside.
In a large mixing bowl, add:
2 cups flour
2 cups sugar
1 tsp baking baking SODA
1/2 tsp salt
Whisk above ingredients together until well-combined.
Add:
1/2 cup buttermilk
1-1/2 tsps vanilla
2 eggs
Mix well. (It helps to use an electric hand mixer). The batter will be very thick and sticky.
Add warm cocoa mixture. Mix well, scraping the bottom and sides of the bowl. Pour into greased cookie sheet (15"x10"x1" is a standard size) and bake at 375F for 20 minutes.
For icing:
In a saucepan add:
1 stick butter
1 tsp vanilla
2 tsps instant coffee granules
1/3 cup buttermilk
Mix well and heat until mixture barely bubbles, then remove from heat.
Add in:
Approximately 3-1/2 cups of sifted confectioners sugar.
You may need more or less depending on the consistency you want the icing to be. Spread on the cake.
Enjoy!
NOTE: This cake freezes well in a single layer with the pieces pre-cut. It can be eaten frozen or thawed and is good either way. I would recommend not leaving it in more than a month, or two at the most.
(Note: I think when I made the ones used for the photo above I used two cake pans of a smaller size, so mine might have come out a little deeper.)
Below is one my friend made and served with fresh strawberries. It was very good! :-) (The photo was taken at my parents’ house where we had gathered for a meal and fellowship. Happy times.)
Last year my dad grew these beautiful Chinese red noodle beans (Baker Creek Seeds). They were really beautiful to look at, and when cooked from fresh they were quite good – definitely good enough to grow again. The down side was that they did not can or freeze well. Perhaps we didn’t know the right trick, but they became very soft and mushy when we tried to process them for longer term storage. Of course, canning beans required pressure cooking, which was more than these could stand up to. The take away for us was that they are good for producing a large amount of summer food, but not so great for long term storage.
The flowers on them were pretty and looked like a typical bean blossom, only these grew on vines so they were more reminiscent of sweet peas.
I had cooked them before, I think, and knew that the gorgeous red would fade some when they were cooked, but one day I got the idea that since they were “noodle beans”, maybe I should just cook them whole like noodles. Bad idea. This is what they looked like on the plate:
Yeah. Any gardener will know what those look like – earth worms. Yuck! :-)
Another reminder that presentation IS an important part of good food. :-)
Have you ever had this happen to your beautiful table linens? Or, have you ever done this to someone else’s beautiful tablecloth? It’s a horrible feeling. Some things, like spaghetti sauce, grape juice, mustard, etc. can leave permanent stains.
This is why my mom started using clear vinyl over her tablecloths. It was a “brain wave” that really solved a problem. It also made it possible for her to use her fabric tablecloths despite her four less-than-perfect children’s presence at the table. :-)
Because I had a clear plastic tablecloth over my cloth one and my beautifully embroidered centerpiece (a gift to me and made in West Africa), it looked like this after I wiped it:
Yes, there is a shine on the surface, but to me it’s a small price to pay to be able to use my nice things without having them ruined and without making my family or friends stressed about spills. :-)
They are also useful for preserving fine word work on a table surface, covering tables that have grooves that collect crud, glass tables, etc. I like to put one over flat placemats too so that I can use them without the monkey fuss of wiping them off all the time. My mom has a slight indentation in her table and so she has put puzzles on her table and then covered them as a table decoration. You could also use this to protect table runners. Be creative – this might make you decide to use that beautiful old quilt you have on your dining room table! It’s a great way to add color to your table too.
A few suggestions:
1. Buy the heaviest clear vinyl you can afford at a local fabric store. (I got mine in the fabric section at Wal-mart.) It will last much longer than the lighter weight stuff. I inherited one from my mom that was so heavy the corner just wouldn’t give out, even though it’s the corners that usually go first. I finally gave up on it just because it became stained, scratched and had some holes.
2. Measure your table first to make sure you get enough!
3. They will develop holes eventually, just from use and “events”. Be careful of things like using a rotary cutting mat and cutter on top of it. Keep your eyes open for holes so that you can avoid having things you especially like soiled by a leak.
4. From time to time you will need to wipe down the sides where drips have escaped eaters. :-)
5. I don’t recommend covering a “special” vinyl tablecloth (the type with the “flannel” backing). I did this with one and when I took off the clear vinyl some of the color from the other one came with it.
6. You will probably need an extra pair of hands to center it properly over another tablecloth or other flat décor you’re using.
Here I used two flat plastic placemats as a “table runner” and laid artificial maple leaves cut off the stems at the corners over a lace tablecloth.
Here is my mom’s table decorated with paper snowflakes on a blue tablecloth for a weather themed birthday party we had for my brother.
Hopefully, this will give you some good ideas and give you the freedom to use those lovely cloths you’ve been “saving”, as well as other décor, on your own table. :-)
It isn’t hard to make a meal look attractive, but sometimes it’s easy to forget if you don’t keep it in mind. My great-grandfather had no sense of taste, so to him the appeal of a meal was all visual. Consequently, if it didn’t look nice, he didn’t really enjoy it.
My mom and sister both took home economic courses that taught them to make food look attractive by using different color combinations. It isn’t really that hard to do most of the time. But, it does take a bit of thinking ahead, and I admit that my efforts are sometimes haphazard. Sometimes I think about what I have on hand or what sounds good, only to discover when I serve the meal that it’s very unappealing visually. Here are few examples and illustrations to show what I mean.
Here is a meal I made that is balanced, but not attractive. It is all brown, beige and white. Though some people think these are lovely colors because they are neutral, neutral colors are neutral because they don’t say anything! They are blah, or perhaps I should say mute.
This next meal, which I made on another occasion has two of the same components, but with a colorful vegetable mix and drink (grape juice), it makes a pretty picture.
Notice the difference in these next two pictures where a pan full of food is dressed up with a small addition of color. It is not particularly striking, yet it really does look better.
To both the pasta/herb mix and the zucchini was added a sprinkling of shredded cheese (maybe parmesan?), and to the zucchini was added just a few black olive halves and some bits of tomato. But, it looks so much tastier to me! :-) Of course, melted cheese has the tendency to make a lot of things look yummier by virtue of the anticipated taste, but its’ color can be useful as well.
Here are some items that will add color interest when added to various and sundry dishes:
Tomato
Black or green olives
Carrots – slices, shaved or shredded
Green leafy vegetables, including lettuce
Sour Cream (for a bright white)
Cheese – especially orange cheeses
Green herbs
Frozen peas (I recommend adding them at the last minute so they keep their color and fresher taste)
Chives
Various fruits
Colorful peppers of all kinds
Even some flowers are edible and can perk up a salad. Just be sure not to use anything that has been treated with a systemic poison or something that isn’t safe for consumption.
Of course, try to match up the flavor of the things you add for color with the food you are serving. Chunks of watermelon hardly belong in potato soup. :-)
Anyway, this is just to encourage you (and myself) to try to dress things up just a bit with some color. It will make your meals more appealing visually, which is good for the artistic part of us. (Yes, we all have an artistic side – we are created in the image of God and He is the ultimate artist and master of color!) It doesn’t take much. If nothing else, serve some sliced tomatoes, carrots or apples along with the meal.
