Bible Study and this and that

good morning lovely friends.        I hope that where you are today, that your day is beautiful!!!!         it looks likes it's gonna be a keeper in my neck of the woods.         the sun is shining brightly and it's slowly but surely melting all the heavy frost as it slowly rises in the sky.         it was brisk 20* when I got up this morning.         I had planted garlic bulbs and some onion roots from a package of green onions back in late november or early december in my mr stacky garden tower and I put a frost cover on them.      we have been checking the weather as of late and see how it's to be turning bitter cold again, so I got out yesterday and put another frost cover on.       I may actually put the 3rd frost cover over them with the single digit temps looming in the forecast.       our weather bug app is a little liar.    hahaha  whatever the weather calls for in our area, the temps always drop much lower than what the apps are calling for.       it has something to do with our specific micro climate in this specific location.        just a quarter mile in any direction and the temp can be anywhere from 5 degrees to 15 degrees cooler or warmer.       I guess that's the way it is everywhere, I don't know.         but I just hope I can do what's necessary to not lose my garlic and onions.  we'll see.

yesterday being the first day of the New year, I made a batch of homemade sourdough bread.        we do love having sourdough bread.        we are enjoying grilled panini sandwiches.        well, I don't know if they are actually panini sandwiches, but they are really good cooked on my cuisinart grill/griddler.       we really enjoy the sandwiches.        

not only do I make homemade sourdough bread, but I also use a bread machine and make brioche buns and cornbread swirls using the bread machine.        a bread machine is a fabulous tool to have in the kitchen to mix your yeast doughs up with.        it does all the kneading for you.        for those of us who have hand and arm issues, it can be a life saver.     

yesterday, I also started the year off with our yearly tradition of blackeyed peas.       they are so good, but we don't have them often.        I like to save them as this special treat for New Year's day and then finish up what I cooked and we'll have them another time or two throughout the year.

I also cooked an electric pressure cooker of my chicken corn chowder.        we love that a lot and the cornbread swirls go well with that.       I like to keep that in the fridge as our fast food.        when I need something quick, I'll have chicken corn chowder and a batch of dried beans of some kind to go to for our fast food.       I know what's in every bite of it.       that means a lot.

I also keep lots of salad fixing in the fridge.       that's another fast food.        I keep all the veggies prepped and read to put on the lettuce.       I have a large box in the fridge with the washed and cleaned lettuce and then a large bag with individual bags of all the different veggies and some fruits prepped and ready to go.       that makes eating healthier a lot faster than if I had to start from scratch with a salad every time.

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well, this morning I read from Genesis 5 to Genesis 12.        there is a lot of genealogy in these chapters and if you can follow it closely, you can see who fathered each nation.       my brain tries to stay on focus, and each time I read thru the bible, it seems like I get just a bit more of the genealogy understood.

some things are easier to understand, so I don't beat myself up if I don't get it all at once.       one thing I do understand is that with free will, comes the choice to sin.         we see sin very early on in scripture and we see the need for salvation at the same time.      people were living for a long time and they were filled with sinful ideas and in Chapter 6, God shortened the life span of humanity.       and then we see the flood and how only 1 man was righteous enough to be spared.       and what I think about, is knowing humanity of the day, this day Jan.2, 2025, is there 1 man that would be righteous in the eyes of God to spare all of humanity and start over?       I don't know, but I do know we don't have to worry about that if we know Christ as our personal Lord and Savor.   

we see where Noah planted a vineyard and got drunk and one of his sons seen him naked and was cursed while the other 2 sons were blessed for covering Noah up.        I think in that scenario we see where drunkenness came into play and we have been dealing with that ever since.       Thanks Noah.    

then we see where people wanted to be smart and build a tower up to God.        well, how did that work out for them?         they all started babbling and haven't stopped since.        things like this happen when we want to claim the power of God.        He will not be mocked.        He will not let unholy attitudes go without some kind of repercussions.       

then we see Abram, as much as he followed God and walked with Him and believed God, he still lied about his wife, to spare his life.        and we'll see that Abram not only lied once but he lied twice about his wife being his sister.      in reality, we'll find that his wife was his half sister.       so, technically he wasn't 100% untruthful, but he was deceptive.        so, we'll see happens there.

with just a little bit of reading the Bible, we can see that humanity with free will has always been a freaking mess and we keep getting worse with all the newer technology that we have today.      it's just so easy to lie, cheat, steal, deceive people.       most people want to that there are "gray" areas that can be tap danced around where the Bible is concerned.         when in reality and in the eyes of God, it's all black and white.        there are no gray areas.       when we start wanting to think there are, we have fallen victim and prey of the devil and his schemes.

I don't know how long I will keep this up, journaling on my blog about what I ready and glean from God's word, but as long as He keeps inspiring me to do so, I will.        but even if I don't journal here, I'll still be journaling a little just for myself. 

I hope and pray that some of y'all are following along and will do the same thing.       ask God to give you clarity.        what I share is just what I've gleaned.         you may glean something totally different.    at any rate, it's interesting to read the Bible and have it play right in our own minds.        what's so neat is that there have been so many good movies made on the Bible, that I can see every one of these scenes playing out as I read it.       that's what makes it so fascinating.        it's like when I start reading, I hit the play button on my mind and the images come to life in my mind and I see it happening as I read it.      I'm so thankful for that too.        but I always try to remember to ask God to show me something new and fresh each time I read the Bible.        I hope you will too.

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well, that's about I have for today.      I hope if you seen something you like that you will share it with someone you love.        tell them about the wonderful journey you are on with reading your Bible.

I hope and pray that everyone has a wonderful day and that you thank God for being a part of it.  blessings of peace and grace be yours today.        hugs and love, patty

Gardening, bread, cooking, starting seeds and all that jazz

good morning y'all.          it's kinda gloomy here in my neck of the woods this morning.          we just have to remember that even if the sun isn't shining outside the Son is always shining on the inside.      let's let Him shine brightly this fine day and make it a wonderful day.       let's all be thankful and grateful for all He has done for us and count our blessings.       you know what, I find that if I count my blessings slowly, I enjoy the process so much more.       if I'm thinking about people, I stop and think about that person and what they mean to me.        God is good and He is to be praised.       I hope and pray that you all have a lot of blessings too numerous to count.    

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this is some stuff I done last year, 2022 and am looking forward to getting things ready for 2024.      I'm excited about gardening and experimenting and having fun.       I hope you are too.      with all that said, let's do " 2 minutes in the garden with me" today.          first off, let me say this, "I am not a gardener", so don't do as I do.             I'm just a "wanna be" and I'm wingin' it big time.   hahaha           while I'm not a gardener, I plant and pray and God does the rest.             so I'll say that up front and you'll know without a doubt, if I have any little bit of success, I attribute it to God, not anything I've done.           I do all my gardening in containers on my deck.               

I have two 4 tier greenstalks with strawberries, and one  5 tier mr stacky with strawberries, and three 6 tier dollar tree towers with yellow beets, red beets, and little marvel peas.        I also have three 6 tier dollar tree towers waiting to be filled.        I have between 40 to 60 varying size pots and containers.

seed starting can be a nightmare, especially if you don't know if your seeds are viable.        I'd seen something about this seed starting method a couple of years ago and never thought anything about it.  this year for some reason, I didn't get seeds started as quickly as I usually do.        when I did get seeds started, it was hurry and wait and hope they came up and I've lost a month already on some not coming up.       so I decided to give the wet papertowel in a ziplock bag a try.        I have 15 or 16 baggies full and waiting on them to sprout.         I started them on the 8th and a lot of them have already sprouted. 

so when I get ready to plant these, I'll use a solo cup or a clear cup to start them in, since they have already been germinated, I know they will be ok.       it will take me being careful and using my garden tweezers (hahaha, yes they make them...who knew? hahaha) and plant my little sprouts and wait for them to burst forth from the soil.       this will be a fun seed starting season, even though it is a late one for me.         what I done with these is just fold the papertowel up and wet it down and opened it up and placed my seeds in between the layers of the folded papertowel and put that little wet bundle in a sandwich ziploc baggie and wrote the name and date on the outside.          I put it close to a floor vent where the heat will encourage it to sprout.        it has worked quickly on a lot of my seeds.       

I'm excited about that.        also there is 3 pictures of the roots of 2 leeks and several green onions.       when I can buy leeks or green onions with roots on them, I cut the roots off and put them in water until they start growing new growth from the rooted bulb.      these are ready to plant and if we have a pretty day this week, I'll get them planted and stick them in the green house  till they are rooted well enough to survive outside.       I already have a pot with 2 leek roots in it.       one of the roots has greenery about 2 inches tall and the other one is about an inch tall.       so that is free and easy gardening.       you can also grow ginger and turmeric from a scrap of a viable root.        if you get a head of lettuce that has the root ball, cut the lettuce off and plant the root ball, free lettuce.       anyway, let me know what you grow from scraps and also give me any container gardening tips that you may have.        plant something and have fun. 

in 2024, I will be removing all my strawberries.        they were everbearing and with close to 80 or 90 plants, I never had any more than 15 or 20 strawberries at a time.         so they gotta go.        greenbeans will be replacing them.      hahaha

every year I always buy at least one bunch of green onions and one bunch of leeks from the grocery store.          I cut everything off  and save the root ends and put them water and get the roots started and plant them.        the last 2 years I have filled a half gallon jar with nothing but the green blades from green onions.        it's such an easy way to add great flavor to your dishes.          I do the same with leeks.    

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well, let's go to the kitchen for another "2 minutes in the kitchen with me".         I recently fixed a batch of dried beans for the week.        I'll fix a couple of batches weekly.         I've seen some videos where people are cooking or canning dried beans.        they just start with dirty beans fresh outta the bag.    they never wash them or sort them at all.         if they actually do this behind the scenes, they need to be talking about it and showing.  

if they had been washed, you would be able to tell because the beans would be wet and sticking to their hands.          I've seen some just clip the top off a bag and dump them in then proceed with their cooking.          first off, always wash those beans.         the wash water I pour off my beans is usually pretty crudy and gray brown and I always wash and rinse them at least 3 times.       secondly, before washing them, sort thru them.       every bean I cook has what I call the "hand/eye treatment".       I dump them in a bowl and I scoop a handful of beans and I look at them.         I pick out any rotten, bug eaten beans and I also pick out any chunks of rock or grit that looks like a bean.  

every time I fix a batch of beans I go thru the same process.      the process that my Momma taught me.  if you've eaten beans with grit in them, you know how unpleasant that is.       it's even more unpleasant to get a rock.           so for those of you that go thru the process of washing and picking out rotten or bug eaten beans and rocks, way to go!!!          for those of you that may not do this, consider doing it.      I can admit to being a very picky eater when it comes to eating other peoples food, and that's one reason why.        I just have a couple pictures to prove why they need to be sorted and washed.  

you can see the rotten and bug eaten beans and the rock!!!      someone would eat that if just dumped in the pot and gone thru.        that's why I look at every bean.        don't want to eat rotten beans but I sure don't want to eat rocks.

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Who loves yogurt?       Who loves greek yogurt?       Who has an Instant pot with a yogurt setting?  Well, if you have an IP with the yogurt setting, you have the main ingredient.       hahaha        I have a bread machine that also has yogurt setting, so I'm gonna check that out closer too.       Back to the IP.   I like all things easy, not gonna lie.         Don't want to heat anything to a certain degree or anything like that.        So, I'm gonna tell you how to make delicious yogurt with your IP called the "cold start method".  

In order to do the cold start method, you MUST use "ULTRA PASTEURIZED" milk.        I bought the "Fair Life" brand in "no-fat".        Again, you MUST use ULTRA PASTEURIZED milk!!       Then get one of your favorite little tubs of plain, non flavor yogurt, (I got Chiobani non fat, plain) with as many live cultures in it as possible.          Pour your ULTRA PASTEURIZED milk into the inner pot and wisk in 2 tablespoons of your purchased yogurt.          Wisk it really good.       Those 2 tablespoons inoculates the whole batch with cultures.   

Put your lid on, and lock it in place, although it won't be hot enough to come to pressure and press the yogurt button to start.         8 hours later, carefully take the lid off (there will be lots of condensation on the inner lid and you don't want it to fall in your yogurt) and put a paper towel over the pot (to catch any more condensation that may form) and then put a plate over it, or another lid that will set on it and pop in the fridge for a couple hours till it cools off completely.         Once it's cooled off, you can just stir it up for regular yogurt and enjoy, or you can place it in a strainer lined with a floursack towel and strain off the whey for a thicker greek yogurt.         The longer you strain it, the thicker it will get.       If you forget it and get it too thick, you can add some of your whey back in in and stir really well.      Either way, you have just made you a batch of yogurt.      Yay!!!        Got my first batch of many in the fridge, straining off the whey as I type.  I hope if you love yogurt, you will give this a try.   

If you like a tangier yogurt, set the time for 10 hours, or even more for really tangy yogurt.   Mine went 8 1/5 hours and it's delicious!!!

Another option for the ULTRA PASTEURIZED milk is Kroger Carbmaster.        I personally have not checked this out yet, but will for my next batch.        There are probably several other brands, maybe store brands, of ULTRA PASTEURIZED milk on the market.       So use what you can find as long as it is ULTRA PASTEURIZED.         I may be the last person on the planet to make their own yogurt, and if I am forgive me and my excitement.        But if you haven't made any yet, give it a try.       It will be worth your time if you love yogurt, plus it's fun.        So, that's a win win as far I'm concerned.  

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and speaking of the instant pot or electric pressure cooker, one day this week, I fixed some greenbeans in one of my electric pressure cookers.       when I use those, I like to maximize my dishes, if at all possible.         meaning, if I can prepare 2 dishes at once, I'm all over that.        so I got my green beans in with seasonings and enough stock to cook them.         I have a long legged trivet for use in air fryer or pressure cooker so I set that in the pot too just smack dab down in the greenbeans.        I have a little flat bottomed bucket/pot with handle on it like a bucket (also designed for af and epc cooking) and I sprayed that with avocado oil.         I got a half dozen potatoes and peeled and done a good sized dice on them and into the bucket pot they went.          I took a pkt of onion soup mix and sprinkled it on the potatoes and then added about 1/2 cup of homemade chicken stock and gave that a good stir and commenced to cooking the greenbeans and potatoes.       once done, I boxed them up for storage in the fridge and we have been enjoying them.        what I do with the potatoes is put them in the air fryer for a few minutes and WOW, are they ever good.         the potatoes were delicious as is, but getting that extra crisp on them really bumps it up a notch.        I realize this probably won't be for everyone, but if you want to give it a whirl, you don't have anything to lose.       sorry no pics, but the next time I do this, I will have pictures. 

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so small loaves of bread I made.  they turned out so much better than I could have hoped for.

so, when I was making bread, I saved enough to make a couple of small loaves of bread.        I flattened the dough and put a mixture of sugar, cranberries and orange on the dough and rolled them up in loaves and baked them.       oh my goodness, they were so good!!!!          the cranberries and orange was some that I had previously dehydrated and rehydrated to use for this purpose.        it worked well!!!

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the first part of this is something that I copied.            everything between the 2 set of 3 astericks symbols.           beneath that is what I was inspired to write after reading the first part.        I can so relate to this writers strong desire to just touch the hem of His garment.  

***Copied: I wish I lived in Jesus’ time. I wish I was able to experience His healing touch. To have years of pain erased in just one simple word. To have peace return to my mind again because anything resembling death bowed at the mention of His name. 

But I don’t. And my heart can’t help but wonder… is healing still accessible today? My body… will I always experience unpredictability? Will I always deal with pain? Will I always be held back by limitations? My mind… will I always experience depression and anxiety? Will there ever be a time when I am no longer in that prison anymore? Will I always struggle with this familiar ache in my mind?

Should I be praying for healing, or would those prayers be in vain? Would they be presumptuous, since my entire life has been marked by these things? 

How do I know when it’s supposed to stay to humble me or when it’s supposed to leave?

I wish I could reach out to touch the hem of His garment. Because I crave healing. But on this side of heaven, will healing come? 

I know His power hasn’t changed— that He still is a miracle-working God. But why haven’t I found healing? For my body OR my mind?

Teach me, Lord.***

I couldn't  help but think about how powerful this is.           I have asked some of those questions myself.         all I do know, is that He hears every hearts cry for help.        He is sustaining me/us thru our situations and pain.       I do know that.         so while we wait for healing, we gain patience.     while we wait for healing, we still experience good days.         while we wait for healing, we still show love to and for those who are in lives on a daily basis.         while we wait for healing, we still laugh and share and do the best we can with what we have, pain and all.         I'm so thankful to God for all He's done for me thru the shed blood of Jesus.   

just in my bible reading, reading thru the gospels, I've recently read about the woman with issue of blood.        when you think about all the problems that came with her situation, it is almost more than I can bare to even think about.        as a Jewish lady, she was unclean.        had been unclean all those years.        she wasn't supposed to even be in the crowd that day.         but she was!!!!  she was on a mission.          she was a mission minded woman.         she went for one thing.  to touch the hem of His garment.       actually to touch the tassel that was on the corner of His outer garment.       she knew all she had to do was touch His garment.          that lady had faith, I'll tell you!!!       she had faith!!!!    when she touched His garment, Jesus felt her faith!!!        the touch from her faith was very different from all the other touches He was feeling in the crowd.        He felt her faith!!!       He knew who it was who had touched Him.          as a matter of fact, He made it possible for her to touch Him by being right there in that place at that very time.       so when He asked who touched Him, He wasn't asking because He didn't know.         He was asking so He could bless her even more.         she was very humble and grateful and thankful.       in the blink of an eye Jesus changed her life forever and because of her faith, she also inherited eternal life.       that is the greatest healing we will ever receive.        we want to live long healthy lives, our main goal should be an eternity with Him.        so while we wait for healing, let us also encourage others to keep praying and to stay strong in the Lord until He does heal us or bring us home.         I just had to share the copied part above and then share what I had seen in the gospels about the woman with the issue of blood.       so stay strong and keep praying, God will make a way!!       so, teach us Lord!!!   

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another instant pot, electric pressure cooker item.        so, how do you cook in your electric pressure cookers.         this is how I cook and wanted to share some pictures of how I "layer" cook in my electric pressure cookers.          this one in particular is my Insignia, from Best Buy.       it is their "in-store" brand and I got it last year between thanksgiving and christmas when my cuisinart epc quit, mid meal prep.  anyway, this is how I have been cooking in my epc for years.         I started with my green beans from my garden, and seasoned them with a diced onion and then salt and pepper and little bit of southern essential oil, aka-bacon drippings.       next I put my smoked turkey sausage on top of that.      I peeled about 4 good sized potatoes and put those in my little pot and seasoned them and set the little pot right on top of the smoked turkey sausage.           next I took a small rack and put on top of the potatoes and placed my corn on the cob on the rack.        about 25 minutes, and we'll be eating a meal fit for the king and queen of our house. 🤣🤣🤣😜😜😜      we'll eat on the green beans, turkey and sausage and potatoes all week.              I started cooking in layers about 10 years ago, long before the epc's were even popular, but it's the way I cook all the time now.             quick and easy, and little clean up, what's not to love.          anyway, hope y'all enjoy.  

this is an awesome and easy way to cook a hearty meal.        I hope y'all will give it a try.

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well, I guess that's about it for this go around.         some of this is stuff that I took down from facebook and am sharing it here.         some of it is new stuff.         just want to be upfront and honest about it.     the dehydrating and cooking stuff is impportant to me and I love passing it on to those who may not know or want to learn more.          so I look it as my way of kinda sorta maybe teaching, just a little bit.

blessings on you all this lovely day and I hope you are thinking of all the many ways the Lord has blessed you and that you're thankful.         I don't know where I would be without my Savior.         I'm so thankful for all He's done me.

blessings be yours today.  hugs and love, patty