Good evening Y'all. Seems like it has been forever since I have been here to visit for a minute. To say the least, it's been a long year. We've all learned a lot. I'm sure most of us wouldn't want to admit some of the things that we have learned about ourselves and others. On the up side of that statement, I've learned that I'm a much better cook than I have given myself credit for being. hahahaha I think that's a good thing. I learned that I really LOVE to bake bread from scratch. In all honesty, I do use a bread machine, because my hands are not what they once were. I can no longer knead the dough like it needs to be kneaded. So my bread machine does that for me. I can either bake the bread in the machine or take it out and make rolls and buns or just bake a big loaf in the oven. I have started experimenting with the liquids in my breads and am loving the effects!!!! One of my experiments is swapping out the water in most of my breads with pure pineapple juice, no sugar added, from canned pineapple. It is absolutely delicious!!!! And it uses something that might otherwise find itself down the drain. I dehydrate canned pineapple to use in my kombucha. That is a tea started from a scoby and starter tea. I guess you could say that it is fermented. The word "scoby" means "symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast". It is actually brewed for several days and then you can flavor it and let it brew for a few more days and then put it in the fridge. If you do it right, it's fizzy like a soda and it's really good and it's also good for you because it is loaded with gut friendly bacteria. It's good for your body.
I also started doing fermented veggies. Those too, are really good for your gut health. The ones I've done so far have been in a salt water brine. I have fermented gingered carrots, garlic asparagus (which I hated hahaha), red onions and I recently started a jar of cabbage to make real sauerkraut. That will be good. The ginger carrots are delicious and the red onions will be too.
On top of that, I have been dehydrating lots of veggies and fruits. I'm going to start powdering a lot of my dehydrated veggies to put in other foods as an enhancer. For the powdered veggies, 1 tablespoon equals 1 serving. That is pretty awesome. I can put it in all different things. I can't wait to get most of it ground up and then start using it.
I will also be able to make some of my own seasoning mixes. That will be fun to experiment with. I have always been a bit adventurous when cooking and try this and try that. Some things have been huge successes and some things have been flops. I have always looked at flops as being a learning experience. If I can learn from a flop, then it was a success. So, I welcome all experiences. Any experience can be used as a stepping tool. Learn from a flop and push yourself even further when you have successes. You just can't rest on your last best effort. And you can't beat yourself up over your last worst flop. Every day has got to be a day to stretch yourself to be better than your last worst flop and your last best effort.
And just to share some insight on working with tweaking a recipe of any kind. Keep good notes. Work on only one change at a time. That way you can track what is a success and you will know exactly what you done. If you go into a recipe and change 4 things at one time, you won't have any idea of what actually worked or what didn't work. So keep meticulous records when experimenting with recipes or creating recipes.
Off of cooking now and on to something else. As much as I enjoy SOME social media, I loathe and detest most of it anymore. People have lost all respect for humanity and would invest more time and effort in a sick animal than they would in a human being. If you don't believe that, just go to some of your social media and read. It won't take you 25 seconds to find someone cutting someone else down, especially if they are cutting someone down for being a Christian. I've got to where I pick my battles and if I see someone being cut down for being a Christian, I get involved. I'm pretty thick skinned and I have been called everything in the book and a lot of things that even aren't in the book yet, so I'm ok with it. I let them know that "I have been called worse things by people who thought they were much better than you" and that usually causes a whiplash. But I will definitely stick up for a Christain being cut down by a bunch of heathen and I'll call them out on it. And you know what, it works!!! Bullies can't stand it when someone stands up to them. Just this afternoon on one of the facebook groups I'm in, a lady got chewed up and spit out for posting an encouraging thought for the day. People was saying that this is a weight loss group and if I wanted to hear about God, I would join a group about God. I just spoke up and said that with each and every ounce I lose, I praise God!!!! And I also said that it's ok for some to post and share all the evil and immoral and amoral junk that they share and that I will start opposing that because it's very offensive and that I if I deny Christ, He will deny me. And I also said that if you really want to get people riled up just mention the name of Jesus and that at the name of Jesus demons flee and lives are changed forever. And you know what, that wasn't received well. One person with a cartoon head even called me whack and that's when I told her that I had been called worse by people who thought they were better then you. Her little sense and sensibilities didn't even know how to take that.
In all honesty, I was gonna go back and copy all I had posted just to have record of it and when I went to check it out, the whole message had been deleted. I guess a moderator finally couldn't stand hearing the truth so the truth got deleted. On the up side, the whole message thread got deleted and I'm ok with that. I said I have learned to pick my battles and when someone is being picked on, YES, I will step in to stop it. And you know what, I'm pretty sure that some of my comments helped get the whole message deleted and I'm good with that. Just wish I had been quick to get a copy of my own words of testimony.
But even at my age, it blows my mind that people don't care that they are going to hell. While I will stand up to people that purposefully hurt others, I will still pray for God to make Himself real in the lives of those people before it's too late. Just like all the madness surrounding this year with covid and next year. People are showing just how little they actually care for their fellow human beings. You know what, I don't like wearing masks. I have anxiety and a couple other issues, BUT and I'll say it again BUT when I am out, I wear my mask!!!!!! I don't care who you are, there is no reason to NOT wear a mask when anxiety is touted as the reason why some don't. I'll bet if they was going to a ball game and had to wear a mask to get into the stadium or a concert or something of the like that THEY WANT to do, they would have their masks on quicker than a flash. People don't want to be told what to do. People have no respect for themselves, so they have no respect for any kind of authority. What people have left out of the equation is that this is HEALTH matter, not a political matter. I do believe that the people of today are the most selfish, most evil minded, most ignorant of any generation that this planet has ever witnessed. I used to say that there was hope. This year has shown me there is no hope for humanity, only Jesus and most don't want to hear about to Him. But then again, a lot of the people that claim to be a Christian are the very ones that are beating their chests and screaming about their rights. There in is the conundrum for me. I don't get it. If you are a Christian, where is your love God and others. That is what Jesus said the two commandments were. To love the Lord our God with all our heart, mind, soul, body, and strength and to love our neighbor as ourself. If you love God and if you love your neighbor you'll do as the government is asking us to do. Loving God means doing as the government as us to do for the health and safety of others BECAUSE even the most corrupt government on earth is ordained by God. God created government and He told His people to live at peace and to honor the government, it's in scripture, read it and find out. No, I don't like that bars and casinos have their doors open when the churches have been shut. But on the other hand, churches should have closed their doors on their own volition and not be ordered by the government to close their doors. Understand, these are MY opinions and I stand by them just as much as the crazies out rioting and burning towns and murdering people and beating their chests about their rights. It's my right to speak some truth over the lies that have been told and still being told.
If the people that didn't want to wear the masks were the ones getting sick and dying, there might not be much of a loss, but it's people that have tried to do the right thing for all that is getting sick and dying. I guess that doesn't sound real good for me to say something like that, but I guess it's just the fact that my husband and I have been doing all we can to stay safe and not make others sick and it's just getting to me a little. I love my mother and I want to see as often as we can, so we don't go anywhere and have any contact with others so we can see her and know that we aren't taking the disease to her. So, that's why we do what we do. That's our motivation. I would love to know the motivation behind all the hate that's going on out there. Until someone can give me some firm answers, I will stick to the early conclusions that I have drawn. People have evil hearts with evil intentions doing evil things. That's what it boils down to.
The best I can say is that we will all answer for our deeds of commission and deeds of omission. I can't answer for you and you can't answer for me. But I can say that I tried to warn others and I tried to share the love of Christ with others. I stood up and spoke truth when I had the opportunity. I tried to share the gospel and lead others to Christ. As of late, I've almost had a Jonah-Nineveh complex. Jonah didn't want to tell the people of Nineveh about God, he wanted them to go to hell. I don't want anyone to go to hell, but I can't make anyone want Jesus Christ as Lord and savior. People stand up and thumb their noses at God and curse Him, and live like hellions and heathens and do all kinds of evil acts and evil deeds and then want to blame others for their behaviors!!!! Or better yet, they say I was born this way. It makes no difference what we say, we all have to answer for our sin. And there are a lot of people who have heard about Christ and turned their back on Him. It is clear then that they have sent themselves to an eternity in hell, God didn't do it, they did.
I feel like I live in a world of 2 year olds that all they want to do is cry kick and scream till someone pats them on the head and gives them a participation award. It's time for real Christians to start acting like real Christians and even better than that, we can all act, we need to be living like real Christians and setting real examples and calling sin out for what it is, sin. We don't want to this for fear of exposing our own sin. We need to bring the darkness to light and get our lives straightened out with the help of Jesus, so we help point others to the light of freedom and forgiveness and life. If you are a Christian and you have hidden sin, I challenge you to get that taken care of, bring it to light. When we as Christians take it seriously then we can make a difference. But if we are living with hidden sin and fear of exposure, then the world is going to stay like it is and get worse. We either make a difference or we don't. I want to make a difference. What about you?
Well, it's almost bed time and my fingers are worn to nub. I hope you all have a wonderful night of refreshing rest and that you can share the love of Christ with someone you know. I hope that December is the best month of your life to this point and that blessing abound. And if you know Christ, blessing will abound for you. Remember that God loves you all and He made a way for you to be in a relationship with Him through the blood of Jesus at the foot of the Cross. I love y'all too, hugs and blessing be to each one of you. Goodnight!!!!
