Monday, May 07, 2007
I finished the bagel video!
Here, for my blog readers, is the altered recipe from The Bread Baker's Apprentice.
Sponge=
1 tsp instant yeast
4 cup high gluten (bread) flour (I used whole 50% whole wheat)
1 1/2 cup water
Mix yeast with flour. Add water. Let sit in bowl, covered, on the countertop at room temp for 2 hours.
Dough=
1/2 tsp instant yeast
3 3/4 cup high gluten (bread) flour (I used 50% whole wheat)
2 3/4 tsp salt
1 TB honey, dark or light malt syrup, or brown sugar
In the same bowl, add extra yeast to the sponge and stir. Then add 3 cups flour, salt, and malt. Mix till ingredients form a ball. Add remaining 3/4 cup flour.
Knead for 10-15 minutes (less if by machine. I did one batch by hand and one by Kitchen Aid). Immediately divide dough into 4 1/2 ounce pieces (for standard bagels, smaller for smaller). I used a scale the first time and weighed everything, including the flour. The scale wasn't working this second time when I did the video, so I just measured ingredients by volume and eyed the amount for each bagel.
Cover bagels for 20 minutes and let rest. Let them rise until one floats within 10 seconds in a bowl of water. If not, dry bagel and put back on counter. Test again in 10 minutes.
Place on pans lined with parchment paper (they stuck terribly since I didn't follow directions the first time. This time I used parchment paper and cornmeal on some, on others just a greased pan. Parchment paper worked much better).
The following day boil water in a big pot and add 1 TBS baking soda. Preheat oven to 500. Boil bagels in water 1-2 minutes on each side (as many as will fit comfortably). When all bagels are boiled, remove with slotted spoon and place back on trays. Bake for 5 minutes, reduce heat to 450, rotate and switch pans, bake another 5 minutes or until they get slightly golden (it took probably 15 minutes for me).
Eat up! They taste great plain, and the kids liked them toasted.
A word of caution before you put the whole wheat in there; I got some mushy bagels on the second round and the only thing I can remember I did differently was the flour. I also didn't watch as carefully how long they boiled. Keep an eye on that timer!
I reeeeally should have gotten a clip of the finished product, lol.
Here, for my blog readers, is the altered recipe from The Bread Baker's Apprentice.
Sponge=
1 tsp instant yeast
4 cup high gluten (bread) flour (I used whole 50% whole wheat)
1 1/2 cup water
Mix yeast with flour. Add water. Let sit in bowl, covered, on the countertop at room temp for 2 hours.
Dough=
1/2 tsp instant yeast
3 3/4 cup high gluten (bread) flour (I used 50% whole wheat)
2 3/4 tsp salt
1 TB honey, dark or light malt syrup, or brown sugar
In the same bowl, add extra yeast to the sponge and stir. Then add 3 cups flour, salt, and malt. Mix till ingredients form a ball. Add remaining 3/4 cup flour.
Knead for 10-15 minutes (less if by machine. I did one batch by hand and one by Kitchen Aid). Immediately divide dough into 4 1/2 ounce pieces (for standard bagels, smaller for smaller). I used a scale the first time and weighed everything, including the flour. The scale wasn't working this second time when I did the video, so I just measured ingredients by volume and eyed the amount for each bagel.
Cover bagels for 20 minutes and let rest. Let them rise until one floats within 10 seconds in a bowl of water. If not, dry bagel and put back on counter. Test again in 10 minutes.
Place on pans lined with parchment paper (they stuck terribly since I didn't follow directions the first time. This time I used parchment paper and cornmeal on some, on others just a greased pan. Parchment paper worked much better).
The following day boil water in a big pot and add 1 TBS baking soda. Preheat oven to 500. Boil bagels in water 1-2 minutes on each side (as many as will fit comfortably). When all bagels are boiled, remove with slotted spoon and place back on trays. Bake for 5 minutes, reduce heat to 450, rotate and switch pans, bake another 5 minutes or until they get slightly golden (it took probably 15 minutes for me).
Eat up! They taste great plain, and the kids liked them toasted.
A word of caution before you put the whole wheat in there; I got some mushy bagels on the second round and the only thing I can remember I did differently was the flour. I also didn't watch as carefully how long they boiled. Keep an eye on that timer!
I reeeeally should have gotten a clip of the finished product, lol.
Wednesday, May 02, 2007
Today I went searching under my dresser for a log I saved from the woodpile. It had kind of a curvy grain to it, and I thought I might be able to make something out of it.
I made a hair fork (or prong). It turned out ok, but for some reason the way I've been putting it in my hair gives me a headache :(
__________________________________________
For after supper I made No Bake Chocolate Cookies - except I put in some marshmallows with the rest of the ingredients. And I put them in a greased pan instead of making cookies out of them. It's too time consuming to make individual cookies. I've got better things to do with my time, like blog...and make pizza. Tonight I'm going to try to make a BBQ Sauce pizza, sort of like Cici's pizza does it.
__________________________________________
It's so nice outside I need to go out and do something. I feel kind of, I dunno. Pent up inside or something. I'm tired of complaining! It seems like I know what the problem is in my head, but I can't really put it into words. So because that problem, whatever it is, exists, I find a myriad of other things to complain about that I really shouldn't. My mom said I was acting "different." What does different mean? It's really bad when you're changing somehow and you're the last one to find out! I ought to go do some jumproping, I always feel giddy afterwards, lol.
I made a hair fork (or prong). It turned out ok, but for some reason the way I've been putting it in my hair gives me a headache :(
__________________________________________
For after supper I made No Bake Chocolate Cookies - except I put in some marshmallows with the rest of the ingredients. And I put them in a greased pan instead of making cookies out of them. It's too time consuming to make individual cookies. I've got better things to do with my time, like blog...and make pizza. Tonight I'm going to try to make a BBQ Sauce pizza, sort of like Cici's pizza does it.
__________________________________________
It's so nice outside I need to go out and do something. I feel kind of, I dunno. Pent up inside or something. I'm tired of complaining! It seems like I know what the problem is in my head, but I can't really put it into words. So because that problem, whatever it is, exists, I find a myriad of other things to complain about that I really shouldn't. My mom said I was acting "different." What does different mean? It's really bad when you're changing somehow and you're the last one to find out! I ought to go do some jumproping, I always feel giddy afterwards, lol.
Labels: recipes
Friday, April 27, 2007
Today I have a few videos to link to (sorry dialup people!).
I was searching at youtube for videos of people performing pull ups and found this 6 year old girl doing them. Pretty neat!
(and yes, I must include something about physical fitness it seems in EVERY post. Maybe I'll be over this phase soon ;)
__________________________________
I haven't played guitar much the last few months but I really want to get motivated to practice. Just for fun, I made a tutorial for youtube of a few G runs.
I also compiled some funny reactions I got to the camera and put them on youtube.
I know my videos are kinda lame, but it's fun to make them :D
___________________________________
Just an update on the bagel recipe - I'm making a video for youtube of the process of making them! The problem is, I can't bake them till Sunday morning (they sit overnight, up to two nights) so the video won't be done till sometime after then. At that point, I should be putting up the recipe. I hope they don't flop this time. I had to edit the recipe a little because I ran out of white flour and had to use whole wheat (ssshhhh!).
___________________________________
My cold is getting a little better. In fact it's a lot better. I took a ton of garlic one day, but I haven't been loading up on it other than that.
I was searching at youtube for videos of people performing pull ups and found this 6 year old girl doing them. Pretty neat!
(and yes, I must include something about physical fitness it seems in EVERY post. Maybe I'll be over this phase soon ;)
__________________________________
I haven't played guitar much the last few months but I really want to get motivated to practice. Just for fun, I made a tutorial for youtube of a few G runs.
I also compiled some funny reactions I got to the camera and put them on youtube.
I know my videos are kinda lame, but it's fun to make them :D
___________________________________
Just an update on the bagel recipe - I'm making a video for youtube of the process of making them! The problem is, I can't bake them till Sunday morning (they sit overnight, up to two nights) so the video won't be done till sometime after then. At that point, I should be putting up the recipe. I hope they don't flop this time. I had to edit the recipe a little because I ran out of white flour and had to use whole wheat (ssshhhh!).
___________________________________
My cold is getting a little better. In fact it's a lot better. I took a ton of garlic one day, but I haven't been loading up on it other than that.
Labels: exercise, recipes, video
Monday, April 09, 2007
Yesterday we had some company and mom made two apple pies (which were delicious, by the way. No sugar (but honey) and it did have "regular" crust and as a bonus she added crasins.) I decided to make a dessert so I looked up a recipe I had found in a newspaper in VA. I had clipped the article, but who knows where it went! The name is a memorable one - Leigh's Man Catcher Brownies. (linked to recipe).
I was shocked at the proportions of sugar to flour and cocoa powder, but WOW, are they good! This is a make-on-free-day-once-every-long-while brownies. They are gooood.
I decided to take pictures while I cooked so I could post them here with the recipe.
Grease 14x9 pan (I used something slightly bigger, which would just result in slightly shorter cooking time). The recipe says to line it with parchment but I didn't bother. Preheat oven to 350 (I even took a picture of the oven saying 350, but it's on the other computer and I can't upload it now :P) .
First take three sticks butter.
Melt in small saucepan and when melted add two cups baking cocoa. Set aside to cool slightly.
Lightly beat six eggs.
Mix in two cups white sugar...
..and two cups brown sugar!
Add two tablespoons vanilla.
Mix in chocolate-butter mixture from the saucepan.
Add two cups flour and one teaspoon salt.
Mix just until blended, do not over mix. My batter turned out very very stiff. This is mom holding the bowl upside down for me :D
It tastes good raw too so sample it if you're not going to blame me for being poisoned by infectedd eggs :p
Spread it in the pan, making sure it's pushed in the corners. Bake for 35-45 minutes, or until toothpick inserted comes out clean (I used a knife) and a crust forms on the surface.
Here's the pan of brownies:
And here is a close up of the texture:
__________________________________
And btw, while these brownies may taste good, they're no good for these -
I'm telling you, this morning I flexed and my bicep is getting buried in (more) fat! I think eating sweet things and "bad" things once in a while keeps you motivated to eat better. You know you can always "cheat" once in a while and when you do cheat you feel how sick you get, lol. I'm not sure if it has anything to do with what I'm eating lately but my face has almost completely cleared up. That's good news for me because there are so many things I've tried to make my face stop breaking out and none of them has worked 100%. I'd much rather get my face cleared from the inside rather than just masking it on the outside. And forgive me those of you who don't have to deal with acne and might be feeling uncomfortable by this frank (but not graphic!) discussion of it. As others who have dealt with it know, it can be hard when you're the one who has it!
_____________________________________
So in the next post I will have (Deo Volente!) a comparison of a few drawings I did - some before doing some exercises I found in a book and some after. The after drawings aren't so great, but I was shocked at how the simple exercises in the book improved what I did do. I'll also be giving out the name of this book, so come back ;)
I was shocked at the proportions of sugar to flour and cocoa powder, but WOW, are they good! This is a make-on-free-day-once-every-long-while brownies. They are gooood.
I decided to take pictures while I cooked so I could post them here with the recipe.
Grease 14x9 pan (I used something slightly bigger, which would just result in slightly shorter cooking time). The recipe says to line it with parchment but I didn't bother. Preheat oven to 350 (I even took a picture of the oven saying 350, but it's on the other computer and I can't upload it now :P) .
First take three sticks butter.
Melt in small saucepan and when melted add two cups baking cocoa. Set aside to cool slightly.
Lightly beat six eggs.
Mix in two cups white sugar...
..and two cups brown sugar!
Add two tablespoons vanilla.
Mix in chocolate-butter mixture from the saucepan.
Add two cups flour and one teaspoon salt.
Mix just until blended, do not over mix. My batter turned out very very stiff. This is mom holding the bowl upside down for me :D
It tastes good raw too so sample it if you're not going to blame me for being poisoned by infectedd eggs :p
Spread it in the pan, making sure it's pushed in the corners. Bake for 35-45 minutes, or until toothpick inserted comes out clean (I used a knife) and a crust forms on the surface.
Here's the pan of brownies:
And here is a close up of the texture:
__________________________________
And btw, while these brownies may taste good, they're no good for these -
I'm telling you, this morning I flexed and my bicep is getting buried in (more) fat! I think eating sweet things and "bad" things once in a while keeps you motivated to eat better. You know you can always "cheat" once in a while and when you do cheat you feel how sick you get, lol. I'm not sure if it has anything to do with what I'm eating lately but my face has almost completely cleared up. That's good news for me because there are so many things I've tried to make my face stop breaking out and none of them has worked 100%. I'd much rather get my face cleared from the inside rather than just masking it on the outside. And forgive me those of you who don't have to deal with acne and might be feeling uncomfortable by this frank (but not graphic!) discussion of it. As others who have dealt with it know, it can be hard when you're the one who has it!
_____________________________________
So in the next post I will have (Deo Volente!) a comparison of a few drawings I did - some before doing some exercises I found in a book and some after. The after drawings aren't so great, but I was shocked at how the simple exercises in the book improved what I did do. I'll also be giving out the name of this book, so come back ;)
Friday, March 30, 2007
Last night we went to the studio; left at quarter to three, got back at quarter to 11 or so. We couldn't bring the bass in the car so we brought my electric bass and Nathan was going to play that for the guide track, then come in later with the upright bass and put his track down over it. All was well, after a few mistakes that caused us to have to restart the recording, until the string on the bass popped! I've never broken a string on it and I've never changed them. They must have been 7-10 years old, so I'm not really that surprised. So we did the rest of the guide track without the bass and Nathan will still have to come in later and record his bass part.
For those of you who may be wondering what a guide track is: We go into the studio with all of our instruments that we'll be using and all of the vocals. Then, playing into one or two mics we play through the entire song at the speed we're going to record at with any cues counted out loud or clapped. Then we go back into the studio one at a time, generally beginning with the rhythm or bass, and record each instrument separately while listening in the headphones to the guide track. Then each individual track is put together and mixed down.
__________________________
I found a bodyfat calculator online. I don't think it can be as accurate as calipers, but seeing as I don't have any calipers I think it might be an acceptable substitute - at least to record changes overall. I won't tell you where I came in ;)
__________________________
Six Hairific Months Without Shampoo (their title, not mine). Basically a woman stopped overwashing her hair :P Really, I think a lot of people over wash. Six months might be a little long, but seriously I know people who wash once a week or so and have beautiful hair. Think of how the body reacts to being dried out. It, being the well designed body it is, tries to compensate for that by producing more oils (unless you have a deficiency). So if you're washing your hair with shampoos (that all pretty much have two cleansers in them, a derivative of lauryl sulfate. Check out the cheap and expensive shampoos, almost every one is based on that) every day, you're going to dry out your scalp which in turn is going to produce more oil to replace what you've been stripping off your hair. I've gone through periods where I washed my hair with conditioner only every 3-4 days and my hair was just fine. Now I'm using shampoo because of the lack of an abundance of water on the bus and I really feel like I have to wash every other day. Ok ok! No more hair talk. For today :D
___________________________________
And today I have two recipes and two pictures!
Whole Wheat Bread
4 - 4 1/3 C whole wheat flour
2 packages yeast (I used 3 teaspoons)
1 3/4 C milk (I used water)
1/3 C brown sugar (I used 3 tablespoons)
2 T. butter
2 tsp salt
Now for this variation I made, I soaked about 1/2 cup of wheat grains overnight in hot water (just pour hot water over them and cover overnight). Then after I kneaded the bread I kneaded in the seeds.
Mix together 2 cups flour with the yeast in a big bowl. Mix together milk (or water), brown sugar, salt, and butter together and heat till just warm. Then mix this mixture in with the flour and yeast, beat for about a minute, then add enough flour by hand to make a moderately stiff dough (not too stiff). If it's sticky add a little flour while you're kneading. Knead it for 10-15 minutes, or until it stretches fairly thin when stretched between your thumbs and index fingers. Let rise until doubled (about an hour and a half). Punch down, let rest 10 minutes. Preheat oven to 375. Form into loaf and place in pan. Bake 30-35 minutes (I tried 32 minutes and it got a little browner than I wanted it.) Remove from pan a cool a little before slicing.
____________________________
Muffins! I made up the dry ingredients the night before and then mixed the wet ingredients in the next morning. This recipe makes 24. Don't think I'm stating the obvious, but if you cut it in half it makes 12 :D
Chocolate Chip Muffins
2 C white flour
1 C whole wheat flour (or you can use 100% white flour, or more whole wheat.)
1 C sugar
4 tsp baking powder
2 tsp salt
Mix together dry ingredients and if you want to make this up ahead of time, put in a bag or a container and put a piece of paper in with the following ingredients to add:
2 eggs
2 cups water (or milk)
1 stick butter, melted
1 - 1 1/2 C chocolate chips (I didn't measure, I just chopped up a few leftover bars of dark chocolate and mixed them in, more or less to your taste)
Mix together until just mixed. Spoon into greased muffin tins about 2/3 full. Bake for 15-20 minutes (I didn't time them, the book I got the recipe from that I altered said 20-25 minutes but I don't want you to burn them either.) Immediately remove from muffin tins and try to eat warm (they're always better warm!).
For those of you who may be wondering what a guide track is: We go into the studio with all of our instruments that we'll be using and all of the vocals. Then, playing into one or two mics we play through the entire song at the speed we're going to record at with any cues counted out loud or clapped. Then we go back into the studio one at a time, generally beginning with the rhythm or bass, and record each instrument separately while listening in the headphones to the guide track. Then each individual track is put together and mixed down.
__________________________
I found a bodyfat calculator online. I don't think it can be as accurate as calipers, but seeing as I don't have any calipers I think it might be an acceptable substitute - at least to record changes overall. I won't tell you where I came in ;)
__________________________
Six Hairific Months Without Shampoo (their title, not mine). Basically a woman stopped overwashing her hair :P Really, I think a lot of people over wash. Six months might be a little long, but seriously I know people who wash once a week or so and have beautiful hair. Think of how the body reacts to being dried out. It, being the well designed body it is, tries to compensate for that by producing more oils (unless you have a deficiency). So if you're washing your hair with shampoos (that all pretty much have two cleansers in them, a derivative of lauryl sulfate. Check out the cheap and expensive shampoos, almost every one is based on that) every day, you're going to dry out your scalp which in turn is going to produce more oil to replace what you've been stripping off your hair. I've gone through periods where I washed my hair with conditioner only every 3-4 days and my hair was just fine. Now I'm using shampoo because of the lack of an abundance of water on the bus and I really feel like I have to wash every other day. Ok ok! No more hair talk. For today :D
___________________________________
And today I have two recipes and two pictures!
Whole Wheat Bread
4 - 4 1/3 C whole wheat flour
2 packages yeast (I used 3 teaspoons)
1 3/4 C milk (I used water)
1/3 C brown sugar (I used 3 tablespoons)
2 T. butter
2 tsp salt
Now for this variation I made, I soaked about 1/2 cup of wheat grains overnight in hot water (just pour hot water over them and cover overnight). Then after I kneaded the bread I kneaded in the seeds.
Mix together 2 cups flour with the yeast in a big bowl. Mix together milk (or water), brown sugar, salt, and butter together and heat till just warm. Then mix this mixture in with the flour and yeast, beat for about a minute, then add enough flour by hand to make a moderately stiff dough (not too stiff). If it's sticky add a little flour while you're kneading. Knead it for 10-15 minutes, or until it stretches fairly thin when stretched between your thumbs and index fingers. Let rise until doubled (about an hour and a half). Punch down, let rest 10 minutes. Preheat oven to 375. Form into loaf and place in pan. Bake 30-35 minutes (I tried 32 minutes and it got a little browner than I wanted it.) Remove from pan a cool a little before slicing.
____________________________
Muffins! I made up the dry ingredients the night before and then mixed the wet ingredients in the next morning. This recipe makes 24. Don't think I'm stating the obvious, but if you cut it in half it makes 12 :D
Chocolate Chip Muffins
2 C white flour
1 C whole wheat flour (or you can use 100% white flour, or more whole wheat.)
1 C sugar
4 tsp baking powder
2 tsp salt
Mix together dry ingredients and if you want to make this up ahead of time, put in a bag or a container and put a piece of paper in with the following ingredients to add:
2 eggs
2 cups water (or milk)
1 stick butter, melted
1 - 1 1/2 C chocolate chips (I didn't measure, I just chopped up a few leftover bars of dark chocolate and mixed them in, more or less to your taste)
Mix together until just mixed. Spoon into greased muffin tins about 2/3 full. Bake for 15-20 minutes (I didn't time them, the book I got the recipe from that I altered said 20-25 minutes but I don't want you to burn them either.) Immediately remove from muffin tins and try to eat warm (they're always better warm!).
Labels: exercise, music, recipes
Wednesday, February 07, 2007
We're in Alabama!
My dad is not feeling very well. Please pray for him as he has been experiencing flu like symtoms possibly related to his ankelosing spondolitus (I don't know how to spell it, but it's kind of like an autoimmune disorder if I remember right).
______________________
As I look around me and see all of this stuff that's happening, the Real ID (I'd link to it but my 'linker' is broken and I don't know the HTML), the moving of many people and organizations to build a one world government, etc., it's so easy to become disturbed. Let me rephrase that. It's easy to worry. Thankfully, God has been impressing upon me that we can't worry about these things! Rejoice when you are persecuted. Fear not he who can destroy only the body. It's amazing how detached what we feel can be from reality. If we face death for the sake of Christ someday, is it not to our advantage to become as close to God now as we can? When painful things occur we will be tested. I've been reading a lot of the "brother will be turned against brother" verses and I just keep praying that God would keep me close to Him no matter what would happen. I'm not reading them on purpose, they just seem to be popping out a lot. And in those verses I see a great sadness, because of the terribleness of what sin can do. If we don't wake up now, we'll be swept away later. Fear God! Persecution may come and I don't think it's wise to sit idly by and just think "Well it's not happening here, so I don't have to worry about it." Pray that you may be close to God in spite of the lack of persecution in this country. And remember those being persecuted and pray for them, that they would be strong.
Here's something that I have found helpful sometimes. Anytime you face pain, turn it into a passionate prayer for those suffering pain for the sake of Christ. I remember having to walk my bike because it was broken, I was out about a mile from where I needed to be (huge trial there, eh?!). I thought I can either complain because I have to walk, or this time while I have to walk I can pray that someone in a third country could be supplied with a bike so they don't have to walk 50 miles and in that "bad" situation I can be strengthened and encourage. Don't let yourself stray with discouraging thoughts because of your circumstances. For in Christ, our circumstance is that we have been forgiven a huge debt, and that's just about it! If we would only focus on Christ, we'd be humbled, and then we'd see life in perspective.
____________________________
I'm getting COLD! I'm outside with a fleece, sweatpants and sandals on. It's quite a nice change from New England, but it still does feel cold sometimes. Carol thinks we might be getting wimpy and losing our "northerner" toughness! I think before the fall of Adam and Eve in the garden, the climate must have been very nice and not extremely hot or cold. Imagine a place where it never feels uncomfortable to either degree! I think Heaven must be void of unlivable cold or scorching heat, indeed it will be greater by far than any of our expectations.
_____________________________
I made my own granola bars today. I got some whey powder to mix in because it has more protein in it. However, I'm wondering how good whey really is for you. I added up all of the ingredients and I have a little list of how many calories are in them and things like that. As far as I can tell (and if I divided them up evenly) they have 142 calories, 9.2 grams protein, 4.5 grams fat, and 12 grams carbs. Most of the fat is from the flax oil I put it, but there's some peanut butter in them too. It's pretty cool to make those little readout thingies like they have on the stuff from the store with the nutritional info on them. I have been eating what seems like LOADS of veggies, most of them raw, but I seem to crave carbs every day in the late afternoon and usually I crumble and have either a poptart or a granola bar, or a cookie, or all three. I also found out you can make a pretty good dip with mushed up cottage cheese, salt, and garlic powder. You can eat a whole cup of it nearly and still be eating pretty lean, and that means you can use dip generously on a whole plate of veggies.
Just so you know, I'm not going off carbs completely, I'm just trying to cut down on the carbs that I get from simple sources, such as sugar and white flour. I'm trying to get them from brown rice, oatmeal, veggies and fruits. Some people go nutty and cut them out completely but I don't think that's wise. Moderation, moderation...
My dad is not feeling very well. Please pray for him as he has been experiencing flu like symtoms possibly related to his ankelosing spondolitus (I don't know how to spell it, but it's kind of like an autoimmune disorder if I remember right).
______________________
As I look around me and see all of this stuff that's happening, the Real ID (I'd link to it but my 'linker' is broken and I don't know the HTML), the moving of many people and organizations to build a one world government, etc., it's so easy to become disturbed. Let me rephrase that. It's easy to worry. Thankfully, God has been impressing upon me that we can't worry about these things! Rejoice when you are persecuted. Fear not he who can destroy only the body. It's amazing how detached what we feel can be from reality. If we face death for the sake of Christ someday, is it not to our advantage to become as close to God now as we can? When painful things occur we will be tested. I've been reading a lot of the "brother will be turned against brother" verses and I just keep praying that God would keep me close to Him no matter what would happen. I'm not reading them on purpose, they just seem to be popping out a lot. And in those verses I see a great sadness, because of the terribleness of what sin can do. If we don't wake up now, we'll be swept away later. Fear God! Persecution may come and I don't think it's wise to sit idly by and just think "Well it's not happening here, so I don't have to worry about it." Pray that you may be close to God in spite of the lack of persecution in this country. And remember those being persecuted and pray for them, that they would be strong.
Here's something that I have found helpful sometimes. Anytime you face pain, turn it into a passionate prayer for those suffering pain for the sake of Christ. I remember having to walk my bike because it was broken, I was out about a mile from where I needed to be (huge trial there, eh?!). I thought I can either complain because I have to walk, or this time while I have to walk I can pray that someone in a third country could be supplied with a bike so they don't have to walk 50 miles and in that "bad" situation I can be strengthened and encourage. Don't let yourself stray with discouraging thoughts because of your circumstances. For in Christ, our circumstance is that we have been forgiven a huge debt, and that's just about it! If we would only focus on Christ, we'd be humbled, and then we'd see life in perspective.
____________________________
I'm getting COLD! I'm outside with a fleece, sweatpants and sandals on. It's quite a nice change from New England, but it still does feel cold sometimes. Carol thinks we might be getting wimpy and losing our "northerner" toughness! I think before the fall of Adam and Eve in the garden, the climate must have been very nice and not extremely hot or cold. Imagine a place where it never feels uncomfortable to either degree! I think Heaven must be void of unlivable cold or scorching heat, indeed it will be greater by far than any of our expectations.
_____________________________
I made my own granola bars today. I got some whey powder to mix in because it has more protein in it. However, I'm wondering how good whey really is for you. I added up all of the ingredients and I have a little list of how many calories are in them and things like that. As far as I can tell (and if I divided them up evenly) they have 142 calories, 9.2 grams protein, 4.5 grams fat, and 12 grams carbs. Most of the fat is from the flax oil I put it, but there's some peanut butter in them too. It's pretty cool to make those little readout thingies like they have on the stuff from the store with the nutritional info on them. I have been eating what seems like LOADS of veggies, most of them raw, but I seem to crave carbs every day in the late afternoon and usually I crumble and have either a poptart or a granola bar, or a cookie, or all three. I also found out you can make a pretty good dip with mushed up cottage cheese, salt, and garlic powder. You can eat a whole cup of it nearly and still be eating pretty lean, and that means you can use dip generously on a whole plate of veggies.
Just so you know, I'm not going off carbs completely, I'm just trying to cut down on the carbs that I get from simple sources, such as sugar and white flour. I'm trying to get them from brown rice, oatmeal, veggies and fruits. Some people go nutty and cut them out completely but I don't think that's wise. Moderation, moderation...
Wednesday, December 20, 2006
Tony Rice Came Broken, Homemade Crackers, and My Garlic "Stuff"
Shortly after I joined Paperbackswap.com I joined Swapacd.com. You have to have a credit plus pay the company 49 cents to get a CD. Since I posted 10 CDs, I got one credit without having to send out any CDs. I requested Tony Rice's Unit of Measure. It came yesterday. I opened up the package, very much looking forward to listening and handed the CD to my brother while I looked at the front insert. Then he pointed out to me it was broken. It's a perfect CD, other than the huge piece broken out of it :( I contacted the company and they refunded my 49 cents and credit in about 30 seconds. So I guess it's alright it came broken, but I'm still disappointed.
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Yesterday while I was at work I munched on crackers for a snack. People have been giving us leftover crackers from the churches we sing at. While munching on the last cracker, I wondered to myself, What's going to happen when the season is over and no one gives us crackers anymore? Well of course, we could BUY crackers, but then I thought of all the unhealthy stuff in crackers. While these thoughts were bouncing back in fourth, I thought to myself that the crackers taste kind of like the crumbs of our homemade biscuits. Suddenly it struck me. Why not make crackers? There have got to be ordinary ingredients in them, maybe flour, salt, fat, and a little leavening. When I got home I asked my mom, and she said sure you could make your own crackers and I ought to look it up online. So I looked and found this page on crackers. I tried the recipe called Multiseeded Crackers, except I used only sesame seeds on top. Surprisingly enough, they turned out very decent. I asked Vincent my brother to eat one, and later he came back for another one. That alone was very encouraging. They were all gone by the time supper was over, so I couldn't take a picture. Cracker problem solved!
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(I chop it up smaller to eat it)
A lot of people seem to be sick around here and throughout other parts of the country. I've been taking cloves of garlic for a few weeks, spurred on by a book about the history of garlic and the modern uses of garlic. About a week ago I took some garlic cloves, chopped them up, and soaked them in apple cider vinegar. I've found that it's quite good. I take about a tablespoon of garlic pieces, chop them up, mix them with honey, and gulp it with water. Yeah, so I don't chew it. But when you chew it, the taste lingers a LONG time and I don't always want the taste in my mouth. In any case, eating it like that is pretty painless, even if you can't stand garlic. It tastes like lemonade a little bit.
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And here's a bonus. On the way home from our second of three concerts on Sunday (yes, we did three!), we stopped and took a picture of a tree in a town not too far from our home. It's the biggest I've ever seen (in real life).
Shortly after I joined Paperbackswap.com I joined Swapacd.com. You have to have a credit plus pay the company 49 cents to get a CD. Since I posted 10 CDs, I got one credit without having to send out any CDs. I requested Tony Rice's Unit of Measure. It came yesterday. I opened up the package, very much looking forward to listening and handed the CD to my brother while I looked at the front insert. Then he pointed out to me it was broken. It's a perfect CD, other than the huge piece broken out of it :( I contacted the company and they refunded my 49 cents and credit in about 30 seconds. So I guess it's alright it came broken, but I'm still disappointed.
_________________________________
Yesterday while I was at work I munched on crackers for a snack. People have been giving us leftover crackers from the churches we sing at. While munching on the last cracker, I wondered to myself, What's going to happen when the season is over and no one gives us crackers anymore? Well of course, we could BUY crackers, but then I thought of all the unhealthy stuff in crackers. While these thoughts were bouncing back in fourth, I thought to myself that the crackers taste kind of like the crumbs of our homemade biscuits. Suddenly it struck me. Why not make crackers? There have got to be ordinary ingredients in them, maybe flour, salt, fat, and a little leavening. When I got home I asked my mom, and she said sure you could make your own crackers and I ought to look it up online. So I looked and found this page on crackers. I tried the recipe called Multiseeded Crackers, except I used only sesame seeds on top. Surprisingly enough, they turned out very decent. I asked Vincent my brother to eat one, and later he came back for another one. That alone was very encouraging. They were all gone by the time supper was over, so I couldn't take a picture. Cracker problem solved!
___________________________
(I chop it up smaller to eat it)
A lot of people seem to be sick around here and throughout other parts of the country. I've been taking cloves of garlic for a few weeks, spurred on by a book about the history of garlic and the modern uses of garlic. About a week ago I took some garlic cloves, chopped them up, and soaked them in apple cider vinegar. I've found that it's quite good. I take about a tablespoon of garlic pieces, chop them up, mix them with honey, and gulp it with water. Yeah, so I don't chew it. But when you chew it, the taste lingers a LONG time and I don't always want the taste in my mouth. In any case, eating it like that is pretty painless, even if you can't stand garlic. It tastes like lemonade a little bit.
_______________________________
And here's a bonus. On the way home from our second of three concerts on Sunday (yes, we did three!), we stopped and took a picture of a tree in a town not too far from our home. It's the biggest I've ever seen (in real life).
Labels: recipes
Wednesday, November 08, 2006
Last night I sat down to blog, but nothing came to me. This morning after devotions and breakfast I got dressed, wrote out a list of things I need to do, and practiced for a few minutes. Then I remembered that if I didn't make bread in the morning, it wouldn't be ready for lunch. So I came down, found this recipe, and decided the family would be eating french bread today :) It isn't done yet, though, so I can't recommend it. EAT (whoops, should have been ETA): I do recommend the bread! Here is a picture of it:
While I was taking the picture they took the other loaf and ate it!
Yesterday I made Vetebrod, a Swedish sweet bread. It was done right before we left to vote (argh, another topic to blog about), so I just cut a few pieces (it gets crushed if you cut it hot) and ate a piece or two. When we got home, both loaves were gone :( Carol made bread yesterday and she made french toast out of it this morning. Mmm.
And I voted for the first time last night. I don't think anyone I voted for got in! I haven't looked at the results yet, but I heard our governator is now Mr. Deval Someone-I-Can't-Remember. All I know is that I heard he wants to spend more money, give more rights to illegal aliens, including issuing drivers licenses, and even his own literature has an endorsement by an organization I don't like. Our choices this year were bad and worse, and we got worse! Voting kind of reminded me of giving blood, all the booths lined up and people getting in line. It was a whole lot quicker though! And for those of you who might point out that voting is a privilege and I ought not to liken it to getting blood sucked out of you, I liked donating blood :D
I asked my dad for advice on who to vote for, but I read all of the questions on the ballot and considered them myself. I hate not being prepared and not really knowing who was for what, but we were on the road and I wasn't keeping up with it (sorry excuse).
While I was taking the picture they took the other loaf and ate it!
Yesterday I made Vetebrod, a Swedish sweet bread. It was done right before we left to vote (argh, another topic to blog about), so I just cut a few pieces (it gets crushed if you cut it hot) and ate a piece or two. When we got home, both loaves were gone :( Carol made bread yesterday and she made french toast out of it this morning. Mmm.
And I voted for the first time last night. I don't think anyone I voted for got in! I haven't looked at the results yet, but I heard our governator is now Mr. Deval Someone-I-Can't-Remember. All I know is that I heard he wants to spend more money, give more rights to illegal aliens, including issuing drivers licenses, and even his own literature has an endorsement by an organization I don't like. Our choices this year were bad and worse, and we got worse! Voting kind of reminded me of giving blood, all the booths lined up and people getting in line. It was a whole lot quicker though! And for those of you who might point out that voting is a privilege and I ought not to liken it to getting blood sucked out of you, I liked donating blood :D
I asked my dad for advice on who to vote for, but I read all of the questions on the ballot and considered them myself. I hate not being prepared and not really knowing who was for what, but we were on the road and I wasn't keeping up with it (sorry excuse).
