The End of the Year

As the year ends tonight, I find this poem to be very encouraging and wanted to share with you.  For those of us who are the children of the eternal God through Christ Jesus, our lives have only just begun – no matter what age we are at the moment!  There is a hugeness about God that we can rest in, trust in and live in as the short years of our earthly life roll by.  Praise God!

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The Measures of God

His wrath the seven vials hold,
The seven trumps His judgments sound;
But what can span the love of God,
And what His goodness bound?

The seven woes shall have an end,
The seven plagues His hand shall stay:
But when shall His compassions fail,
His kindness pass away?

The dust of earth He measures out,
He numbers all the stars of space,
His mighty scales the mountains weigh;
But what can weigh His grace?

His fingers spread the heavens forth,
He cups the seas within His hand;
But who His mercies can compute;
Unnumbered as the sand?

The wickedness of men shall pass,
And death shall die, and wars shall cease;
But still His covenant shall stand
Of righteousness and peace.

And when men's measured thread is spun,
His finished tale of days is told,
When all earth's numbered years are done
And Time itself grows old,

Then shall God's long eternities
Their unmarked course have yet to run,
And His uncounted eon-hours
Be only just begun.

Annie Johnson Flint

Psalm 145:10 All thy works shall praise thee, O LORD; and thy saints shall bless thee. 11 They shall speak of the glory of thy kingdom, and talk of thy power; 12 To make known to the sons of men his mighty acts, and the glorious majesty of his kingdom. 13 Thy kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and thy dominion endureth throughout all generations.

1Timothy 1:17 Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen.

Some Links of Interest

Just a few interesting or odd cooking links.  Enjoy! :-)

(Note: Use caution in reading other pages on these sites.  I have not read all of them, and in some cases I know that other pages are not worth looking at.)

Homemade Sausage from a homesick Texan. Making your own sausage is not as difficult as you might think.  Also, it doesn’t have MSG, which is sometimes hard to avoid in the store bought kinds!  (If you don’t have the red pepper and cayenne, try adding a few shakes of Tabasco or a similar hot sauce.)  If you don’t eat pork, try making this from ground turkey or chicken.  I don’t think you’ll be disappointed! :-)

Medieval Vegetables – This may seem a bit strange.  I have no interest in reenactments, but I do find the historical value of this page interesting.  Eating history could be a great way to learn, both for adults and kids!

Three Possum Recipes – I have never eaten possum myself, but I’ve eaten raccoon.  I would not eat it again unless I was starving.  But, you never know.  These recipes might come in handy sometime.  I don’t recommend the last recipe at all, unless you have house guests that forgot how to go home. (Ahem.)  No, not really. ;-)

How to Cook Snapping Turtle – Here is a recipe for cooking a snapping turtle.  If you are brave enough to try to catch one, the instructions on cleaning and cooking it are here.  I have eaten turtle before.  It was pretty good for wild meat – a whole lot better than raccoon!

Breakfast Rambling – Not unto us, O LORD…but unto thy name give glory… A brief study of Psalm 104

This post got so long that I decided it should be a Bible study on my web page.  Please read it here:

 Not Unto Us, O Lord

After you have read this please answer this by leaving a post below:  What can you say in worship and praise to God today that does not reflect upon your own needs or blessings?

Belated Happy Thanksgiving!

Greetings to all my readers this Thanksgiving weekend.  May your thoughts be focused on all the things you have to thank God for, rather than on the things of this present evil world!
Galatians 1:3 Grace be to you and peace from God the Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ, 4 Who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father: 5 To whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
When I Think of Thee – by Annie Johnson Flint

Crawfish Etoufee

November 9th was “Cook something Bold and Pungent Day”.  I intended to post this recipe for that, but I didn’t manage to get it up.  (I apologize that I haven’t been keeping up with this blog too well lately.)
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Here’s an unusual dish to try.  We learned this from a “Loosiana boy” who lived with us for a while and from his mother.  One warning – it smells a little weird when it’s cooking, but it tastes good when you eat it!
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Melt 1 stick of butter in a non-iron pot.
Season 1 lb. raw crawfish tails with Cajun Seasoning. Mix well.
Add 1 Tbl. of paprika to the butter. Stir in. Add crawfish tails. Sauté crawfish for about 5 minutes.
Add:
Onion and garlic powder (to taste)
1 Tbl. Worcestershire sauce
2 C. water or chicken broth
Simmer 40 minutes, stirring often.  Check taste.  Add salt if needed, or garlic or onion.
Add 2 Tbl. cornstarch mixed with a little water or broth spooned from the pot.  Cook till slightly thickened. Serve with rice. 
4 servings

C's Chocolate Chip Cookies

 

1 C. softened butter
1 C. palm shortening (non-hydrogenated)
1 C. sugar
2 C. packed light brown sugar
2 tsp. vanilla extract
4 eggs
4 1/2 C. all-purpose flour (try putting in half white whole wheat)
2 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. salt
2 C. chocolate chips
1 C. chopped pecans (optional)


In large mixing bowl, cream butter, shortening, sugars and vanilla.  Beat in eggs.  Combine dry ingredients; add to creamed mixture.  Stir in chocolate chips and nuts. Drop by tablespoonfuls onto greased cookie sheets.  Bake at 350F for 10-12 min. or till lightly browned.  Remove to racks to cool.
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I have had these come out a bit too thin at times.  If this happens (they spread out too far) add a little flour to stiffen them up.  I got this recipe years ago from Country Extra magazine and made a few changes.  Also, I would not try to reduce the sugar.

Just A Bite

I am a snacker first and last.  I get the munchies on a fairly regular basis.  Eating smaller meals and having a late morning and later afternoon snack can actually be beneficial, and is sometimes necessary for me, but eating healthy snacks is sometimes the challenge, especially with my sweet tooth.

I do not happen to eat a lot of bread.  I used to, but since our whole grain bread is heavy and carbohydrate rich, I like to get my carbs from things that I like better.  Because of this I don’t always get all the jam I’d like – especially our wonderful homemade jam.  When I have a craving for some jam, instead of spreading it on a cracker or piece of bread I will sometimes eat it on a slice of cheese. :-)  I probably get more jam than I should sometimes, but with some of our recent efforts at lower sugar jams this is not as much an issue as it once was.  Also, the freezer jams are more like eating fresh fruit spreads to me.

It’s not only tasty, it’s colorful too!  Yum!