Bible Study and panini sandwiches

good morning wonderful people.         it's a nice and cool 46 degrees here in my neck of the woods.      I was hoping for a little warmer temps, but I think it's supposed to warm back up around Saturday.       we'll have to wait and see about that.         we do have more rain in the forecast, but rain is better than snow.         hahaha          I just want a little more sunshine again.          I did get both of my hydroponic units planted day before yesterday.          one of them has pepper seeds in it and the other one has tomato seeds in it.          I also got 4 medium sized pots planted with carrots, beets, parsnips, and radishes day before yesterday too.        I'll hit the tops of them with a spritz of water today.        if it does get to the 70's on saturday, I may plant some lettuce seeds in one of my covered raised beds on legs.       I hope to get some of that done.         anyway, we'll see how the Lord blesses with good weather and good use of time.        I've got to get in the kitchen in a little bit and get some potaotes peeled, russets and sweet potatoes, cut and baked and then in the freezer for easy meal prep.       it's always a good day when I'm prepping good food for us.

------------------

so this will be a pretty long "2 minutes in the kitchen with me".           for once, I remembered to have my cell phone and snapped away during the process.          so this is my cuisinart griddler.         the [lates will flip over and make a flat griddle surface.         

this is one of my loaves of homemade sourdough.          I love the size of the loaves, they're perfect for this.  

as much as I enjoy this piece of machinery, I don't enjoy cleaning it all the time.          it's not hard to clean, I just don't enjoy having to clean it after each use.          I know, lazy right.        hahaha           so I dug out a piece of parchment paper on a whim, just to see if it would work.      

I got my  bread spread  on the sides that will touch the griddle with mayonnaise to help the bread brown evenly.             I also got my lunch meat and cheese prepared too.

once the griddler got hot, I put everything on it, in proper order and shut the lid and guess what?        it worked better than I could have imagined  it to work.

the folded in half parchment worked perfectly to cover the top of the sandwiches too.          I lowered the lid and let it do it's magic.

here it is, with the lid closed and you can see the parchment paper over the edge and it's just doing it's thing.

here they are finished and you can see the oozing of the cheese, but that's ok, because there's still plenty on the sandwiches.

and the last picture is how I slice them.             I do this about once a week and we do love them.       it's a really great change of pace for us.

I guess I could have shown you our empty plates.          hahahaha           they were really good and they hit the spot when you want something different.           and one of the best things about this, easy cleanup!!!!!           I'm all over that and I sure do appreciate the fact that it's so easy.         now, I don't have to take the plates and soak them in the sink.          I just wad the parchment paper up and toss in the garbage.          done and done.          yay!!!!!!!         I hope you enjoyed seeing this and that maybe you got some ideas.

-------------------------

picking  up in 1 Kings Chapter 12, we  remember  Solomon  is dead and  his son, is next in  line as king.         sometimes it best to take some good advice, especially from people that can say "been there, done that".          Rehoboam was king over Judah and he wasn't one to take advice of the elders.         

he took advice from the young people.        just like people today want to take advice from young people that haven't even gotten out of pampers yet.       but people that don't want to serve the Lord will do anything.        we see that when people out picketing for the right to kill babies.         they don't want to responsible human beings, they want to do what they want to do and have no consequences to deal with.       having forgotten that they will answer to God someday for it.

Jeroboam also became ruler over Israel and he sinned greatly against God.     not only did Jeroboam make 1 golden calf to be worshiped, but he made 2.        they knew about the golden calf that Aaron had made and now this king makes 2.       and the people did sin and worship it and not only that, but came up with his own feasts and he appointed priests.        he sinned greatly in Gods eyes.

it matters not, who is king, they all sinned and sinned greatly.          up to this point anyway.         it just shows me that it's human nature for people to evil and wicked.         for me, even as a Christian, I have to fight hard, with the help of the Lord, to keep the old ways and thoughts from taking over completely, so I can't imagine having the weight of king on my shoulders.        the position of king for Israel was a God ordained, appointed position.         God had told them early on, back in Genesis, that one day they would demand a king, just like all the pagan countries around them.          we can see why God wanted to be their king.       as a Christian, Jesus Christ is my King.        is He yours?   

battles against kings and wars keep going on.          but in Chapter 17 we see Elijah, a man of God, a prophet who believes in the power of God.        praise God for men like Elijah.       God gives us hope, even today, in a hopeless situation.        God will always have someone as His spokes person.        we have to have the ears to hear and the heart and mind to know the truth.        I've heard a lot of preachers telling what they want to tell.        but what they're telling is nowhere to be found in scripture.         if someone is telling you something and it can't be found in scripture, they are a false teacher and they are NOT to be believed, trusted, listened to in any way.         the preachers preaching the true word of God, won't be really popular with the message they have.        but truth isn't popular.        we live in a culture  that doesn't have the mind or the capability to recognize truth when and if they hear it.        most would rather believe the lies than to believe the truth any day.        

ask God for discernment and wisdom.        those are 2 gifts that God is eager to give to us.        those 2 gifts can mean the difference in where we spend eternity.         that's how important they are.  

next time we pick up in Chapter17 with more about Elijah.

-----------------

well, I guess I'll wrap it up today and get busy.         I hope I can manage to get some stuff done today, I'll try to remember and share what I manage to get done.         I hope that we remember to keep God first place with our actions and plans today.        I pray we all have a good day today.         blessings of peace and mercy be ours today.          hugs and love, patty

Bible Study and sweet potatoes from start to freezer

good morning beautiful friends.          I hope and pray that we are all ready to have a great day today.      the sun isn't shining and we're probably gonna get some rain.          it got up to 59 degrees yesterday, and we loved it.        my hubby worked out in the garage and I worked inside, but I was out and in every once in a while.         I think it's gonna rain today, but that's ok, we can use the rain.        if for no other reason, to get all the salt washed off the roads.         we're hoping to go see Momma this morning and get back home before  the rain  starts.       maybe even  get out  walk in for the  day before the rain starts too.         sometime this afternoon I'll have to get my yogurt in the fridge to cool down and then strain it to make greek yogurt.       I'll save the whey for the next batch.       if you've never made homemade yogurt before, I'd suggest giving it a try.         if I can  remember, I'll do a picture tutorial on it sometime.         keep an eye out for it.

-----------------

guess where we are today?           you guessed it, in the kitchen with another "2 minutes in the kitchen with me".          pull up a chair and grab a cuppa, because there's a lot going on in here today.          so I needed to make another batch of my diced sweet potatoes with onions and garlic.         so I got out my peeler and composter bucket.

the little gizmo on the left is a starfrit peeler from amazon.        it's a great little gizmo, but these sweet potatoes are difficult to peel at best.         it makes no difference where I get sweet potatoes, they're all kinda shriveled up and this peeler doesn't like that at all.         but I finally got it done.      on the right side is my compost bucket.         so I was doing it right.        hahahaha

as I peeled the potatoes, I dropped them in a bow of water.            you can see the pile of peels.         as it was peeling, I was picking the piles up and breaking them into smaller pieces and putting them in my compost bucker.          in the past, all this just went in the trach can.         not anymore.       woohoo!!!   

I got them all chopped up and used all the ingredients on the left hand side of the bowl.          I had previously dehydrated the garlic and onion just for this purpose.         and my dehydrated onion and garlic work perfectly in this dish.         for the ingredients, I used about a tablespoon of avocado oil, a good grid of pink salt, a dash of black pepper and about a palm full of both the garlic and the onion.      a quick stir and it will be ready for the baking sheet.

this is a close up of what it all looks like before I mix it all together.

this is the closed up of my onions and garlic.          since this will be the permanent homes of these ingredients, I need to make a couple of labels for each jar.       one for each lid and one for the side of each jar.          these garlic jars work perfectly for this project. 

this is the potatoes all mixed up and spread out on my baking sheet covered with parchment paper.

pop in the oven on 400 degrees for45 minutes or more, just depending on what you like and this is what you get.           we love all the dark crispy bits.         it is soooooooo yummy!!!!!             these sweet potatoes taste like candy, only better.           that's no joke!!!

I let them cool and then scoop them up and into flip top sandwich bags.

then get the bags shaped up a little and flip the top on them and....... 

then they are ready to go in a vac seal bag and into the freezer.         I don't do a hard vacuum on them because I don't want to squish them and I don't want it to be a solid block when I get ready to take a bag out and put it in the air fryer later.          this is where the magic happens.           they get crispy on the outside and stay like candy on the inside.          these are wonderful.          next on the agenda is to do some russets for my husband.         those are his favorites.          I hope you will give this a try.        when I went shopping the other day, I got a lot more potatoes, some of each and they will be prepared this was exactly and then I'll have easy potatoes any time we want them.           I'm thinking the next time, I'll flash freeze them on the baking sheet and then be able to scoop out some without having to thaw them a little first.         that will make it easier and quicker to toss in the air fryer.        yay!!!

---------------------

so we pick up in 1 Samuel Chapter 16.           God is ready to anoint a new king.           His spirit has totally left Saul now and he is overcome with an evil spirit every once in a while.        God tells Samuel to go to Jesse and he will find the new king among his sons.        David was the one that God had chosen for Samuel to anoint.          David fought Goliath with what he knew.        he knew how to handle a sling shot and he also knew that the hand of God that had protected him against a lion and a bear, would also protect him from this giant.        when we trust God with what we know and with what have, then we can count on success.        what David knew is that the God of Israel was faithful and David knew how to use a sling shot.      God gave David the success.         Jonathan and David became friends.       Saul became suspicious of David and turned against him.       David had done nothing to cause Saul to be suspicious.        he was jealous.        jealousy causes a lot of problems and always has, always will.    Saul knew that Lord was with David and he was afraid of David.        David was more successful in battle than Saul was.         Jonathan told David that Saul wanted him dead.         jealousy causes people to do or try to do desperate things.      the God of the Israelites was with David thru it all.       Saul wanted David dead, but God had other plans.        do we walk closely enough with God so that the plans of others that are to do us harm can't happen?        I pray that I do.        I pray that God will protect me in spite of myself and how I get in God's way.       

next time we pick up at 1 Samuel Chapter 26.

------------------------

well, that's about it for today.        we'll have to wait and see how the day turns out.        but I know that as long as we keep God in our lives, it will be a good day.         let's try to trust God with everything in our lives.       blessings to you all today.         hugs and love, patty