good morning loved ones. I pray that you have a wonderful day today. it's another chilly day in my neck of the woods. as I think about it, I'm still thinking about all the ones who lost loved ones and homes and businesses on Saturday. I'm still praising God that it wasn't any worse than it was and so thankful that on that day, He spared my husband and myself, yet again. but as we see some of the pictures coming in from the devastation, we can see His hand of protection over the whole situation.
I'll be the first person to say that I really don't understand why some were spared and some weren't. I just know that God always does what is right. that's still not an asnwer as to why some got killed and others didn't. I just think about Job in times like this. Job questioned God. God finally asks Job some tough questions. "where were you when I, God, created everything?" and the questioning keeps going on for quite a while and Job realized he was nothing or noone to ever question God.
but, this is just me and my thoughts, I may be totally off base. God will never turn away serious questions. I truly believe He wants us to bring our problems and questions to Him. we'll always find answers in His word for what ever our questions may be. years ago, I found a verse in Genesis that says something to effect like this, "shall not the Judge of all the earth do what is right?" God is the Judge of the earth and He will always do what is right even though we don't understand it. I personally, need to remember this. especially in the hard times like this.
so while I still don't understand and never will, I just lean into Him and know that He will do right in all situations. and when we pray for others and help others in whatever ways we possibly can, then we are being the hands and feet of Jesus Christ in a real way and making a difference. praying for those out in the cold doing the cleanup, getting electricity back on for folks that have been without, getting the internet back up for those without, getting homes repaired, getting businesses repaired..........it's a daunting task for my little community, but we have the "can do" attitude. while all the hustle and bustle goes on around here, I'm still praising God that no one in our little community lost their lives. that alone is so incredibly miraculous!!!!!!! I cry at how we truly were spared, our whole community!!!! people were praying!!!! people were praying for us from all over the country and God heard those prayers.
please cntinue to pray for those who are hurting today from loss of family and friends. I can't imagine the heart ache. please pray for those on the front lines of cleanup all around us. please pray for those coming from other states to help with the cleanup. pray for the small businesses that are stepping out in their communities and feeding those who are helping in any way and feeding those who have no way to prepare food for their families. just pray as the Lord leads in this situation.
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what about 2 minutes in the kitchen with me yesterday morning? let's do it!! these are the rolls I baked some time ago, not the ones I made yesterday. I still wanted to share thes and now is as good a time as any. these are Honey Oatmeal Flax Rolls. they are quite delicious. I love using flax meal in my bread, but if you've bought it, you know that it can go rancid. the last flax meal I purchased was already rancid when I got it home!!! it stinks, literally. hahaha
anyway, I love it, but I don't like buying something that expensive for it to already be bad. so, I bought a 5 lb bag of flax seed at the local Amish store and grind my own. a 5 lb bag has lasted me several years. I store it in the freezer and take out what I need at a time to grind and then store the ground flax in the fridge. no more rancid flax meal. flax seeds are really good for you, but you don't get the health benefit from them unless they are crushed. so, that's the main reason for grinding them. I don't use it in all my bread, but sometimes I just love to put some ground flax in my bread and it makes it really beautiful.
I hope you'll try it sometime.
don't they look nice. they are really good.
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todays offering from the kitchen. cornbread swirls. they are just so good. these are really fun to make. we really enjoy these. when I took them from the oven, I brushed them with a little melted butter and that just seals the deal every time. hahaha they will go really well with my split pea soup. yum y'all! this is the recipe I use if you're interested:
1/2 cup milk (I use powdered milk and water)
1 egg
1 box jiffy cornbread mix (you can also make your own mix, so use the equivalent of 1 box of jiffy cornbread mix)
1 1/4 cup all purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp yeast
1 tablespoon butter
2 tablespoons sugar-optional (it is better with it)
pinch of salt
I mix this in my bread machine and I always start with liquid, wet ingredients, adding dry ingredients and the yeast last and on top.
heat milk to luke warm (water), add in butter, egg and the rest of the ingredients, with yeast being the last ingredient and keep it away from the salt. I put it all in bread machine for about 25 to 30 minutes, but if you don't have bread machine, put it all in stand mixer or food processor and mix, or work it up manually. once mixed really well, I take it from the bread machine to my silpat or bread board with cornmeal on it and roll into a rectangle. try to keep all sides as straight as possible, about 7 x 14 inches or so and about a half inch thick.
I use a pizza cutter to cut it with and kitchen skewer as my straight edge and work my way across cutting about 3/4 inch to 1 inch strips. once all the strips are cut, just roll loosely into a swirl and put it on a baking sheet to rise for a couple of hours or even more then bake in 350* preheated oven for about 15 minutes, till desired browning. if you roll the swirls too tight, they won't rise like they should. I've had some rise to a peak on the top. they should expand outward instead of upward. hahahaha just before they come from the oven, melt about a tablespoon and a half of butter and have that ready to brush on them when you take them from the oven. let cool and ENJOY!!! I store them in the fridge and when I get ready to fix them for our meal, I will pop a couple in my counter top oven and heat them up and they are just like fresh baked.
when I first started making these, I tried rolling them jellyrolly fashion and slicing off swirls, they were really wonky and misshapen, so I started using the pizza cutter and skewer to get them straight. it works for me. hahaha you can roll them however you wish to them. I have even made bread sticks from them. no matter how you make them, they are a wonderful addition to your bread rotation.
these are about as good as it gets. sometimes I'll put minced onion and garlic in them. I also have mixes of lots of dehydrated veggies that have been made into powders and flakes and sometimes I'll use a tablespoon or 2 of that in my swirls to give it a completely different taste. plain or perked up with what ever you want to put them, they are ALWAYS wonderful!!
I hope you'll give these a try.
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let's do another "2 minutes in the kitchen with me". we love fried green tomatoes. well, I should say that we love "air fryed" green tomatoes. in 2021, I put up several pks of ready to air fry green toamtoes and we have enjoyed them every so often. this may have been my last pkg. boohoo anyway, the pictures tell the story.
when I package them for the freezer, I take 1 good sized tomato and slice it in about 1/4 inch slices. then dip in egg wash and then into cornmeal seasoned with a salt and pepper. I tear off a portion of freezer paper and lay out 3 slices, make a roll then put 2 or 3 more slices and then make one more roll and put the rest of the slices on top and then roll and fold and tuck all the edges and tape the bundle and pop in the freezer.
when I take the little bundle out, I unwrap it and they aren't stuck together or covered in frost, which can and has happened in the past. wrapping the coated green tomatoes with a layer of freezer paper between each layer assures me easy unwrapping. when I get them unwrapped, I leave them on the freezer paper for a minute while I spray all the pieces with just a dab of avocado oil, then I flip the pieces and spray the other side. this is what helps with browning.
I put them in the air fryer set at 400* for 12 minutes. when it goes off, I gently turn the tomatoes and set for another 8 minutes. 20 minutes and these are about as close to perfect as I would hope for. these are delicious. this is what we look forward to in the coming months. more green tomatoes. now, air fried green tomatoes, get in my tummy!!
this is the easiest way I've found to put these up in the freezer. just always mark what it is and the date with a permenant marker.
so when I get them opened up, I just use the freezer paper as my staging area for spraying them with the avocado oil. this is only one green toamto. we both could our weight in them, but.......we try to go easy on them, just to make them last longer. hahaha
it's hard to believe that you can actually get browning and a good crust like this by using the air fryer. I'm here to tell you that you can. and what's so great is that there is no grease from skillet frying.
preheating your air fryer helps a lot, but you really don't have to. just make sure you leave them in the air fryer long enough. and, make sure you spray both sides with a non aerosol oil. I have a pump sprayer that I keep avocado oil it. it's the mildest flavor. olive oil can be too over powering for my taste. we prefer to taste the green tomato, so I use avocado oil.
I can't believe I didn't get any more green tomatoes put in the freezer this summer!!! when you eat last pkg of anything that you really enjoy, it's heart breaking. the goal for this coming season is to get MORE green tomatoes in the freezer!!!!
I'll let you in on another secret too. we love fried okra. but thru the years, we haven't a lot of the stuff that required skillet frying. we can't handle the grease. I can't handle the expense of using a half bottle of oil for only one thing and then throwing the oil out. so we have done without. not any more.
I don't have pictures of the okra, but it looks as yummy as the green tomatoes do. I get those bage of ready battered okra at Kroger and I'll dump a bag out on a paper plate and spray them with the avocado oil, stir it around on the paper plate and spray it again until it looks it's all coated. remember, the oil is what helps the cornmeal coating brown. and I'll transfer the okra to the preheated air fryer and give it about 20 minutes in the hot tub and they are pure perfection. I just air fry them at 400* for the 20 minutes, give or take a few minutes. just get them to the darkness that you like.
if you like fried okra and fried green tomatoes, but don't like all the grease that usually comes with it, then this if for you!!!! try it, you won't be disappointed.
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Cheating and Unrepentance, My Story
well, it started many years ago. it was love at first bite. what can I say, it really was!!! cheese!!!! just about any cheese!!!! you name it, and I, at least "strongly" like, if not flat out L-O-V-E it!!! for years, I have been faithful to my love. come on, who doesn't have their cheese from time to time???? some people have other vices, cheese WAS my vice. up until this week, that is.
so, let me tell you how the fall from cheese actually started. I've shared a little with y'all about my journey into dehydrating. I have dehydrated produce of all kinds for many years, 25 or more. it's fun to do, plus you cut down on waste and then you have lots of non perishable foods and even quick, fun snacks.
the fall of 2019 was when my dehydrating addiction actually kicked in again. I started dehydrating a few things, just for fun and to have something to keep me busy. next thing I knew, I started dehydrating everything that didn't run when I reached for it. hahahahaha
it wasn't long till I had several glass jars of dehydrated produce. as I got different veggies, along came more jars. small jars, tall jars, skinny jars, fat jars. I'm not a jar snob. I don't care what it looks like, if it had something edible in it, and if it came from my kitchen, I can reuse it. all jars, small, tall, skinny and fat. they work for me.
I had all these jars of delicious dehydrated little nuggets of goodness. TOO many!!!! oh, I can't believe I just said that, but alas, I did. hahaha some of my jars just had a little bit in them and some had more. jar after jar after jar. so, after developing claustrophobia from all the jars, I brought out the big guns, my nutribullet rx blender. I started emptying jars, one by one, and making powder. I had a big bowl that I was dumping all the powders into.
2020 was the perfect year to do this!!!! trust me when I say this, you DON'T want to do this without a mask. hahahaha just take my word on it!!! I would sift out any larger pieces and put those back into the blender. blend and empty, blend and empty......that went on till I had 17 empty jars!!!! yeah, 17 jars!! hahaha it was a beautiful sight to see all those beautiful powdered veggies waiting to be mixed together and then stored in 2, 1 quart mason jars.
the colors were amazing!!! again, I'm so thankful I had some masks to wear. because as beautiful as it was, you couldn't inhale a lot of it because there was some HOT pepper in it. hahaha when it was all blended together then I filled 2 quart jars 3/4 full. that gives me some shake room, to shake it all up and break up any clumps just from setting in the jars.
well, by now you are probably wondering how I cheated on cheese. I had been using this a lot as it was.......then THIS happened!!! I love yellow squash. my husband, not so much. so, when I get yellow squash, they are all mine. woohoo!!! anyway, I cooked my squash with a lot of onion, a lot of onion, did I say a lot of onion?? hahaha when I got the squash and onion cooked, at this point, I would normally drain off a little of the liquid so I could grate some extra sharp cheddar and put in my squash.
my jar of mixed veg was sitting right by the stove and I caught a glimpse of this very familiar and pleasing sight from the corner of my eye. that's how it always start, just an innocent glance. and just then, I had a thought and that's when I made the decision to cheat on my cheese!!!
I didn't drain the squash, OH MY GOODNESS, instead, I put in 3 tablespoons of this beautiful mixture!!! oh my, what have I just done?!?! I felt a pang of guilt set in. I thought I actually heard my cheese cry from inside the fridge. too late. no turning back. deed is done.
and thus my new love affair with the 17 veg mix powder has begun. move over cheese, find a new dish, just get out of my way. hahaha there is a new jar in town and it don't have cheese in it!!!
well, here I am now, telling y'all how the cheating started and I'm not repentant at all. my cheese will just have to get over it or move on!!! especially since I will be searching for new veggies to dehydrate and add to my powdered stash!!! well, that's how it started y'all. just by one little innocent glance and a small pang of guilt. but I must say that I have recovered quite nicely from the guilt. hahahaha
so, how's this story for the first day of Spring, 2021? anyway, hope you enjoyed reading about this non-cheesy event in my life.
hahahaha, hope you enjoyed that story. it's fun to go back and reread some of the stuff I've written over the years.
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that's about all I have for today. I hope your day is filled with praise for our loving God who has provided the only way to be in right relationship with Him, thru the shed blood of Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior. be blessed today. may your day be filled with love, joy and peace, patty
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