Bible Study, weather, and freezing unbaked bread

good morning my beautiful friends!!!!!       well, yesterday was a bust as far as snow goes.           and I'm pretty happy about that.         we ended up with about 3 inches and that was pretty nice as far as I'm concerned.      but then again, this morning we had another 2 inches of snow.      hahahaha     I know a lot of people was hoping for more, but I was praying against it.         I'm thankful that the Lord answered that prayer.         it was 17 degrees when I got up and we're in for some more bitter cold temps.         I'm ready for spring.        hahaha           if I ignore winter long enough, it will soon be gone.         hahaha         oh, I don't  hate winter, I  just don't  like how the cold makes my old lady body hurt, it's just too painful.         I'm hot natured, so the cold doesn't make me cold, so to speak, it just hurt my joints.         arthritis has shown up in both of my elbows this year.         I've never had it in my elbows before.         the pain I'm having with them makes it almost impossible to pick up some of my barely heavy appliances.        plus, I can't straighten my arms out.         that's something else that hurts, just trying to straighten them.         one of my dear friends has made me a bunch of essential oils and I've been using those.         that's  the only  thing giving me any peace right now.       so I'm grateful to my friend.          we have  a few more  days of bitter  cold and  then next week, woohoo, it's supposed to be in the 40's!!!!          it will be like having a heat wave.         hahaha         I look forward to that!!!

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time for the "giggle for the day":

Q : What would bears be without bees?

A : Ears.

hahaha        well, they would.         hahaha       

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join me in the kitchen for a "2 minutes in the kitchen with me".           I think I may have said that snow days are for making bread.           and that's exactly what I done.         I made 2 batches of my cornbread swirls today.         I may try to get another batch made tomorrow along with my brioche buns.        but I did find a new recipe and I may try it and make buns from it.         most people generally make a loaf bread from the recipe, but I prefer buns.              

this was batch number 1 and they look really good.            the proof will be in the rise when I thaw and bake.          hahaha           so, it's a wait and see situation.

30 minutes later, this is batch number 2.           I would have made another batch this morning, but I didn't have room in the freezer to flash freeze another batch.         darn it!!!         so, I'll took these out of the freezer and got them bagged up and the room in the freezer for my next bread making session.   

I was done with them, and had them in the freezer and the kitchen cleaned up by 9:40 am.        that's a pretty good work time.          it felt good to get that done and that made time for me to get my batch of chicken corn chowder in the instant pot.       it's so good with those cornbread swirls.       we love them both.

they are now off of the trays that they were on and now back in the cozy frozen tundra for the freezer.    I always put a little bit of cornmeal in the freezer bag and shake them all around to get them coated in cornmeal.         it's awesome when they are cooked, but it also helps to keep them from sticking together.         that's very important.          but if they do accidentally stick together for some reason, I just drop the bag on the counter and just like that, they are unstuck.      there is 49 cornbread swirls in those 2 bags.         today will be another bread baking day.        awesome!!!

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picking back up in Job today we see that God had allowed satan to take Jobs wealth and jobs children from him.         Job questioned God.         I see from this encounter, that it's ok if we question God, but I think it's how we go about it.        Job remained respectful of God.         guess what, his friends couldn't stand it.          do you have friends like that?          we all do!!!         even Job's wife was upset at Job.     I think she's the one who said curse God and die.         Jobs friends tried really hard to wear Job down.      they all had their own ideas of why God allowed this stuff to happen to Job.         maybe because of hidden sin in his life.           maybe because that's just how God operates, if you're a good person, He'll be good to you, if you're a bad person, He'll let bad stuff happen to you.         Job had to defend his integrity with the people who knew him best.        they argue and debate for most of this book.      they just knew Job had done something terrible and he wasn't telling them.         Job finally goes to God with agony and despair and he actually accuse God of being responsible for all the bad stuff in the world.      he finally realize that he can't be right.         that God is a just, fair and an all-powerful God.        one friend doesn't know why Job is suffering, but he does know that Job isn't qualified to judge God.       are you qualified to judge God?        I know I'm not either.         I know that before I came to know Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior, I hated God.        I didn't want anything to do with Him.        all the time I spent hating God, He was still working on me and loving me.         and just a few years ago I come to realize that I didn't hate God at all, I just wanted to know why some of the things that happened, happened.         after reading the book of Job, I realized that none of it was God's fault.       I'm a part of humanity and it's not pretty a lot of the time.        but what I was shown, was that I have never been alone a single second in my life.         He has been beside me, in front of me, behind me, making a way for me.         making a way for me to give praise and honor to my God and my Lord and Savior!!!      He allowed me to have a heart that seeks after the heart of God.         God is so good and we all have so much more in this life than we could ever even begin to deserve.        it's not about how wretched we are, but it's all about how merciful and mighty He is.         His mercy and grace covers us all, when we accept Him as the Lord and Savior of our lives!!!         Job is not qualified to judge God, are you?    next time we'll see how God responds to Job.

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well, I guess I'll wrap it up for now and hopefully I can get some more unbaked buns in the freezer today.        I love baking bread when it's snowy and cold outside.        there may not be much to do, but I can always do that.        as long as I don't run out of flour.        hahaha        such a scary thought!!!        I hope we all have a blessed day today and the we keep seeking after the heart of God.        blessings of mercy and grace be ours today.        hugs and love, patty

Bible Study and cornbread swirls

good morning my beautiful friends.          it rained all day yesterday and most of the night.        looks like we'll have a little more rain today.        we needed it, so that's good.       I don't know what the day will bring yet, but I'm happy to be a part of it.        I hope you are too.       I hope we are able to get out and get our walk in sometime today.         that will perk both of us up and we need perking.      hahaha    I hope you all have a wonderful day.        

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this is what I spent the day doing the other day.        let's do a "2 minutes in the kitchen with me".      getting my cornbread stash built back up.         if I can, I may try to get another couple of batches done tomorrow.         we love having these in the freezer at all times.        this is another way I get to use bread machine.         I put all the ingredients in and let it do all the hard work for me.

all I have to do is take a few out and put them on a baking sheet and let them thaw and then pop them in a 350 degree oven for about 15 minutes.       I just bake them till done.         then when we're ready to have one with a meal, I'll pop it it in the toaster oven while I'm using the air fryer to cook or heat something else us.        it works like a dream.   

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picking up in 1 Samuel Chapter 26,  we pick up with Saul on the hunt for David once again.        David knew that God would take care of Saul at the appropriate time, just like God had been taking care of David and sparing him from the wrath of Saul.      David respected the fact the Saul was God's anointed king.       he could have killed Saul again, but he chose not to.       now Saul is looking for David again.  he went searching for a medium and called for Samuel from the grave and Samuel gave him a word he didn't want to get and that was the next day Saul and his sons would be with him, dead.      

we pick up in 2 Samuel Chapter 1 next time.

Saul had sinned against God and the Holy Spirit left Saul and he had evil thoughts towards David.        we see where sin gets us.        it's never good, although God can use what we've done or been thru for His good.      if we can tell others where we've been and what we've seen and done when we was wandering in sin, then that can be used for God's glory.         to show what God can do when we let Him.         but this wasn't the case with Saul.        Saul just couldn't get past his jealousy of David.      at any rate, because of the sin that Saul had committed, God allowed him and his sons to be killed.      

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well, that's about all I have today.          I hope and pray that you all have a wonderful day and let's keep God first place in all that we do.       blessings of joy, peace and grace be ours today.      hugs and love, patty

Cornbread Swirls, check!!! hahaha

good evening y'all.         better late than never, right.           we took a quick trip to see my Momma this morning, so I'm just now getting to my blog for the day.         I didn't know if we would into snow or not and fortunately, we didn't.           It did sprizzle on us a little going up and coming home, but nothing bad.        praise the Lord.         the temps were still warm enough that the roads wouldn't have gotten bad for quite a while.         I was just looking at weather bug a little while ago and it's all rain now, so that's good.       and it's even sprizzling here again, even as I type.          that's ok.        we're in for the night and I'll be fixing supper here in a little bit.     

oh, I almost forgot the main reason for going to see Momma today.          I cooked a batch of blackeyed peas this morning when I got up.       I wanted to get them cooked and have them ready.       so we took her some.      and I'll have plenty for us and also able to share with our neighbor.    yes, that's a tradition.         you gotta have blackeyed peas.         so I've made that my "thing" to do for her for a few years.        she always looks forward to them.         

I think our neighbor looks forward to them too.        he had never had blackeyed peas.          his sweet wife passed away on Dec.14, 2019.          his son and his wife was living with him for a short time trying to help him sort things out and I just started fixing extra of what I fixed for us and would have my husband call him to meet us at the fence.         so I had fixed a big huge batch of blackeyed peas for New Years of 2020.         we took them a huge bowl and a big bunch of cornbread  and he said they ate like they were starving to death.       hahahaha          he also said that it was the first time that either of the three had ever had blackeyed peas.        and they never heard of the tradition of eating blackeyed peas of january 1st.         well, he eats blackeyed peas on january 1st now.        hahahaha    whether he wants to or not, he eats them.        hahaha        

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yay y'all!!!!         my goal for yesterday was to get to get my cornbread swirls made, and I did!!!!!      yes I did and I'm so proud of myself.         these are so good too.         I make what I call a "corn chowder" with different meats.         maybe chicken, maybe turkey, maybe turkey bacon, or maybe turkey sausage which happens to be our favorite.           but this batch was turkey bacon because I have a ton of turkey bacon in the freezer and it's just so easy to use, so why not, right.         but these cornbread swirls go wonderfully with the "corn chowder".         so I try to keep some in the fridge at all times.

so what I'll do, while I have our "corn chowder" in the microwave heating up, I'll put a couple of these conrbread swirls in the counter top oven to warm up and put a little more color on them.         when I'm baking these for the first time, I just want to get them done thru and thru.         then when I heat them for our meal, I'll put more color on them.          when I take them from the oven, I'll put just a smidge of real butter on each one and it melt into the swirl and it's just delicious!!!

notice the four smaller ones in the upper right hand corner.          well those are the end pieces cut from each end of the dough where I roll it out and try to get it as square as I can.          they just don't get really square on the ends, so they end up smaller.

well, for supper last night, I had some chicken that I put in the air fryer and I had 4 small hushpuppies in the freezer and I put those in the air fryer too.          I turned around and seen this pan of cornbread swirls on the stove top and then my eyes went to the small ones.        so intsead of making a trek to the garage to bring in another bag of hushpuppies, I just picked up those 4 small swirls and put them in the air fryer.         oh my stinking goodness!!!!!!!!            they were over the top GOOOOOOD!!!!         they got really crunchy crispy and just so good.         so, I may be reheating my swirls in the air fryer, especially when I'm using the air fryer anyway.        

as I work on perfecting my recipe and technique, I am finding that when I roll a strip, if I leave slack in them and don't roll them real tight, they come out so much better.          for a long time, I was rolling them so tight that they didn't have room to rise.          when they did rise, they would rise upward and be real tall.         they was good, but I wanted them to be flat like what you see here.

anyway, I'm sure that's more info than you ever wanted to know about my cornbread swirls.       hahaha

when I get the recipe perfected, I'll share it.         I may have already shared it, and if I have, that recipe will work really well, but I've tweeked it since then.         anyway, be on the lookout for it sometime, probably in the upcoming year.

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I have a little bit of something on my mind so I'm sharing with me as much as anything, just trying to make sense of something that's impossible for me to do so at the moment.

we have neighbors directly across the street.        as far as who has been in the neighborhood the longest, we have been there the longest of just about anyone in the whole area.         there are only 2 other residents that have been here as long as we have.         one of them lives 2 houses up on the same side of the road as us and the other one lives 2 houses down on the oopposite side of the road.       we have been 23 years as dec 22nd this year.          that was the first night we spent in our new house upon moving.          everyone of the other neighbors up and down the street have come and gone 2 or three times over, during the time we've been here.

so, back to the neighbors across the street.         they won't look up, if they happen to see us, they'll turn their backs to us really quickly.        they are just not sociable at all.          that's ok, I don't want neighbors running in and out of my house all the time.         but I do want to be able to wave and at least get an acknowledgement.           I've told all the neighbors we've ever had in the past, that if they ever need anything, don't hesitate to holler at us.         one or both of us is always home and we'll always do what we can to help in any way possible.         most of our neighbors have always been the same way we are.         we'll be neighborly and help in any way and we'll always be friendly.         that's the way it's always been.          

this family moved in and I tried to start waving and a lot of time, the way I've made communication with new neighbors is to see them at the mailbox, or holler and wave when I'm going to mine.        but these people have been here several years and we still don't even know their names.       they don't want to have anything to do with anyone.           I'm ok with that.          I'll still wave and I'll keep on waving.

well, they have a fully trimmed out basement under the house.       a great living place.        the brother of the man that lives there, he and his wife moved into the basement about a year and a half ago.        they have a truck and car.         well, I thought the ones that lived in the upper house were hard to have anything to do with.        those living in the basement are something else.         they have Jesus signs all over their 2 vehicles.          we wave at them everytime we see them outside, everytime we meet them on the road, everytime one of us goes to the mailbox.         well, they make no bones about it, they turn their backs on us every time.          if we had done anything to them, I might be able to understand it just a little bit.          but we haven't done anything to any of them.         

I told my husband here back and then earlier today when we got home from going to see my Momma, that if I didn't already have a relationship with Jesus Christ, there is nothing about those people that would even make me want to explore who Jesus Christ is.          they are everything that Jesus Christ isn't.          it's really sad.        I know they put on airs out away from home.          so they wear Jesus on their vehicles, but they are about as opposite of what Jesus Christ is in reality.

I say all this just to remind myself, that if I claim Christ, I need to try to make sure that my life looks like it.          yes, everyone has tempers, everyone says things that we shouldn't say, everyone sins.     we just do.     we're not perfect in this life and will never be.          but, if we openly and outwardly shun others and make no bones about it, then it makes me wonder if they even know the Jesus that we have plastered all over our vehicles.       

we just have to be careful at all times to make sure that we do represent Jesus in a good way.         my prayer is always that when others see me, they Jesus in me and not me.        when I see these people, I see anything but Jesus and that's really sad.         I can actually say that I see the devil in them.   

and I do believe it's the Jesus in us that irritates the devil in them.          I don't know what they say or think about us and I really don't care.         we'll keep on waving and acknowledging them whether they ever  acknowledge us or not.        I did tell my husband today that if I ever get the chance to say anything to them that I'm going to tell them that I'm happy I already have a relationship with Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior.         because if I didn't, I see nothing in them that would lead me to wanting to learn more about who Jesus is.               

I may sound judgemental and if I am, I know that God will correct me.       we just have to be careful about how represent Jesus.         they're not doing a very good job representing Jesus as far we can see.       

my desire and prayer is that when others see me, they see Jesus!!!!         I pray that the Lord will always keep me humble and I pray that He will always show me where I fail Him and I pray that He will help me to own it and do better when He shows me how I have failed Him. 

like I said earlier, we all sin, we just do.         and I just pray for God to convict me of the sin in my life that may keep someone else from wanting to have a realtionship with our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

well, I hope when I come back to this at some point in time that it helps me to make sense of what's going on with the neighbors.         we've tried to be good neighbors and are good neighbors, but these people are beyond me.         so I hope and pray that the Lord will show me how I can break the ice or maybe He will show me to just leave them alone.         either way, He's got to show me and I believe He will.

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that's all I have today.           I hope you get some blackeyed peas cooked for New Years, it will be here before we know it.         blessings of love, peace and joy be yours.         hugs, patty

Recipes and a Snow Day

Good evening Y'all!!!      Is it cold where you are?      It is where I am.      Oh, it's not cold as it is other places, but it feels colder than it really is.       We had a pretty good little snow flurry last night and we still have white stuff around.      When we got up this morning, we couldn't wait to see what it looked out side.      It wasn't much, but my sweet husband said, "Snow day!!!"     So we had a snow day today.  hahahaha    There wasn't anyone to tell us we couldn't have a snow day, so we enjoyed it.     Not that we done anything, but still, it was a snow day.     hahahaha

So, for this snow day I was in the kitchen.     I made a pot of Electric Pressure Cooker Cream Cheese Chicken Chili.      It is delicious!!!!!       I made some cornbread swirls, they were delicious and the recipe is below.       Then after lunch, I made a pot of "hamburger helper noodles and sauce".      It is delicious too.    I like to have at least a couple of good pots of good stuff in the fridge to eat on during the week and these 2 dishes meet the needs.   

Tomorrow, I will be getting my Misfits Market box and will be making room in my fridge to put it in and I'll get my dehydrator going and get some items dehydrated for long term storage and then to use in my cooking.      I love dehydrating and I love to use my goods in dishes.

So,  today was the day that I got my cornbread swirls made and I might say, they are delicious.      yay!!  They are a copy of the cornbread swirls you can buy in a can at the store and peel out like a canned biscuit.    When not on sale, they are about $2 a can.      They are good, but I can't pay that much for them.       So, I set out to figure out how to make them.     Guess what, I did.

This is the recipe for the cornbread swirls:

This is a bread machine recipe.      For those of you who know how to make yeast bread, just do what you know and knead it and let it rest and knead it and let it rest over and over for about 30 minutes.

For bread machine set on "dough":

1/2 cup luke warm milk

1 egg

1 box of jiffy corn muffin mix (recipe below to make this mix)

1 1/4 cups all purpose flour

1 1/2 tsp yeast

1 tbls melted butter

1/4 cup cornmeal-optional

Put first 5 ingredients in bread machine in order as listed.      Run dough cycle on machine.       (It will knead the dough and rest many times during the 1.5 hours of time.       I don't keep it in there that long.  I take it out after about 45 minutes.)        Remove the dough and roll to about 15 x 8 inch triangle.    Once you get it rolled out flat and thin, turn the long side towards you and roll the rectangle into a log.  Shape it pretty good and then slice it in about 1 inch slices and reshape as you put on parchment lined baking sheet.       Brush with melted butter and sprinkle extra cornmeal on them, if you want to.      Let rise for at least 30 minutes.      Preheat oven to 375* during the last few minutes of rise time.        Bake for 12-15 minutes.      Enjoy!!

While the jiffy corn muffin mix is relatively inexpensive, you can make even that mix yourself for actually pennies.

Cornbread Muffin Mix:

2/3 cup all purpose flour

1/2 cup cornmeal, yellow if you prefer

1/3 cup of sugar

1 T baking powder

1/2 t salt

2 T oil

Mix the first 5 ingredients well.       Wisk in oil till smooth and no clumps.      Use this as you would the cornmeal muffin mix in a box.  

The good thing about this mix is that you can pronounce everything in it.      It's also a bit healthier than the stuff you can't pronounce.

To make muffins: add 1 egg and 1/3 cup milk.

To make cornbread swirls with this mix: use the mix just like it was a cornbread muffin mix in a box and then add all the ingredients from the Cornbread Swirls recipe.

The muffin mix can be made in big batches.        Just don't add the oil.        If it isn't used in a timely fashion, the oil can go rancid.       So, when you use it from a big batch, for every 8 oz of muffin mix, add 2 T of oil and wisk it till is blended well and no clumps.      Then proceed with the cornbread swirls or regular muffins.

These are really good recipes and I hope y'all can use them and bake lots of cornbread swirls.

This is a couple of pictures of my cornbread rolls and they are as good as they look.        I was kinda proud of them and love that I can make them any time I want to and with recipes, y'all can too.     I hope you do enjoy them.

That's about all I have this evening.       I pray that as you wind your day down and get ready for a night of rest that you will talk to God sometime and thank Him for this beautiful day that you got to be a part of.      Remember those around us who are sick, healing from surgery, suffering from a broken heart because of the death of a loved one.       There are so many who are hurting tonight and I lift those precious people to our Lord to comfort as only He can.       I pray that He will mend the hearts of the people of this nation and all across the world tonight.      We are in a season of unrest, but we as Christians know that our rest is from the Lord and we can rest when we know Him.       Tell someone tonight that Jesus loves them.        Sometimes we forget that He really does.      So, let me tell y'all, Jesus loves each and every one of you.     He wants to be in your life.      He wants you to want Him in your life.       He loved us enough to die on the cross in our place.         That's love.      I pray as you fall asleep tonight, you know that you know that you know, you belong to Him and nothing can change that.   Good night y'all!!!!!   Jesus loves ya and so do I.    hugs, love and blessings beyond measure, patty