Yummy Noodles

For the last two nights during dinner, where there is usually all manner of lively conversation, it has been mostly the glorious sound of slurps and grunts. What, you ask could be the cause of this and why would I be happy about it? Well, I have invented the most delicious food known to man apparently. Even the one who would like to live solely on bacon and Skittles had seconds! You see it all starts with a turkey; of which I still have three or four in the deep freeze since we could get them at around 25 cents a pound in November. So, I’ll cook up a turkey every week or two and we’ll live off the leftovers for many a day. Makes for cheap eating, and I have gotten rather creative with said turkey meat so that we have yet to get tired of eating it. This recipe is for Asian style noodles and you could substitute any of the ingredients really, it’s kind of like fried rice and it goes like this:
1 pkg angel hair pasta
½ a green cabbage, sliced thin
1 red onion
3 cloves of garlic
Teriyaki sauce to taste
Leftover meat, cooked
Mung sprouts if you are lucky enough to have them
Heat a large pot of water to boiling; meanwhile, heat a large frying pan with about a tablespoon of olive oil in it. Chop garlic, and slice onion and cabbage. Sauté onion and garlic, then toss in cabbage and cook until fully wilted. Adding ¼ cup water or broth to the pan will help to steam the vegetables. Add the leftover meat to the cabbage mixture long enough for it to re heat. Put the angel hair pasta in the water and cook it according to package directions. Strain noodles and return them to the cooking pot. Add cabbage mixture to the noodles and stir, while you mix in teriyaki sauce to taste. I usually use about ¼ of the jar when I make mine. Add mung sprouts last and serve hot. A little chili garlic sauce as a garnish is not bad at all.

A Review of Bonhoeffer by Eric Metaxas

I finally finished the book I have been reading since July. At 542 pages it took me six months, as I am not one to sit still for long periods of time. The title is Bonhoeffer Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy; by Eric Metaxas.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a theologian and pastor who lived in Nazi Germany during World War Two and watched the fall of his beloved country and people.

I found it interesting how easily Hitler grasped an unhealthy amount of power before anyone noticed what was happening. It is a warning for us to look into the future when contemplating allowing our government officials to hack away at the constitution which protects our precious freedoms.

Bonhoeffer really did live life to the fullest with freedom in Christ Jesus. Ultimately it was he who had the courage to stand with a very few against the evil that was taking place. It cost him his life but his obedience to God was not in vain.

It is important for us to read biographies like this one and learn what is in our history. I would recommend this as a good read. You will not only learn about a great man, but you may learn some things about World War Two they didn’t teach you in school, and some church history to boot! I think a good history book is one that makes me realize I need to learn more about one thing or another and this book does just that. If you need me you will find me at the end of this trail of books!

Advent Week Four

And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father's only son, full of grace and truth...From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. The Law indeed was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God. It is God the only Son, who is close to the Father's heart, who has made him known.
John 1:14-18
Merry Christmas!

Birthday Parties

Have you ever noticed that when it comes to accessories, boys get the short end of the stick? I began to see this as soon as I started having boy babies. No one wants to shop for little boy clothes, or make delicious knitting patterns for handsome boy sweaters. Boy toys consist of guns, cars, and gooey things. And try to have a party for your boys. While there is a plethora of fun party ideas for girls, boys get to have an army theme, a car theme or a pirate theme. I think that makes things boring. Ever since my guys were little I have been on a mission to right these wrongs.
Well, it was birthday time for Texas this week and I wanted to have a fun party for him and some of his friends. Texas happens to be a seven year old motor head, so we went ahead and called it a car theme party, but then we took it a little beyond that. We purchased Hot Wheels plates for the cake and fake moustaches instead of party hats.

We centralized our theme around his favorite Hot Wheel, which is a silver Delorean. So we played pin the exhaust pipe on the Delorean,

and made a Delorean cake. The cake turned out to be slightly ugly, but hey, that kind of thing happens sometimes when you are working outside the box. We made place cards for the table that were also a little gift for each guest. Each place card was a Hot Wheel car with a name tied to it with yarn.

Since it is Christmas time Texas also wanted to decorate graham cracker houses. Graham crackers work a lot better than ginger bread and are quicker. We dipped the crackers in melted sugar and stuck them together the night before. Then everyone got to decorate them as a party craft and took them home.

It turned out to be a very laid back party and a fun time was had by all.

Advent Week Three

He was in the world, and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him. He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him. But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God.
John 1:10-13

Advent Week Two

"There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light. The true light which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world."
John 1:6-9

A Good Movie

Last night we were lucky enough to get to see a free screening of the new movie War Horse which will come out on Christmas day. You may want to go down to the theatre to see this film. It is very good. It has history, valor, love, beauty, and ugliness. It will make you laugh, cry, and some other things too. See the trailer to the right.

The Naturalist

Earlier this fall, Mechanism pulled some little green caterpillars off my broccoli plants and saved them from my evil caterpillarcide rampage. He put them into a jar with some of the broccoli leaves and they lived on to form cocoons. Two of them actually turned into butterflies. We figured out that they are both females since they each have two dots on the forewing so alas they will not be having babies. He has been keeping them alive on sugar water in a giant plastic water jug. They looked a little weak this morning so we took them out and fed them in the dish garden. They immediately unrolled their little proboscises and started drinking. Here is the picture we took of them this morning.

Cranberry Cherry Scones

After a morning of playing in the snow, the boys bumbled into the house for warm scones before settling down for a day of studying. I had pulled them from the freezer last night and simply put them in the oven this morning. They made for a trouble free cozy breakfast. Here is the recipe incase you want to make them too. I used dried cranberries and cherries but you can add any kind of dried, fresh or frozen berries that you please. I also made the recipe dairy free, but you can use butter and milk if that's what you have on hand.

2 cups unbleached white flour
1/4 cup wheat germ
3 tblsp sugar
1 tblsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
6 tblsp coconut oil
1 beaten egg
1/2 cup coconut milk or coconut cream
1/4 to a half cup dried or fresh berries, cherries or the like
For glaze an additional tablespoon of coconut milk and 2 tsp sugar are needed.

Combine flour, wheat germ, sugar, baking powder and salt. Cut in coconut oil or butter. Combine egg and coconut milk. Stir just till moistened. Add the berries. Turn dough onto a floured surface and knead just till nearly smooth. If you are going to freeze the dough, shape it into a disk, put it inside double freezer bags and lable it with the name, oven temp and baking time. I like to make a double batch and freeze it for those wintery mornings when I don't want to spend time baking but I want to eat fresh scones.
If you freeze them, put them in the fridge the night before and let them sit on the counter for 1/2 hour before rolling.
Roll out your dough until it is 1/2 inch thick. Cut into twelve wedges or squares. Place on an ungreased cookie sheet. Brush the scones with coconut milk and sprinkle with sugar. Bake for 12 minutes at 400 degrees.

Summer Investments Winter Payoffs

On my gardening page, you will note that I planted carrots in July. It is now snowing outside my window on this cold December day, but the dirt inside my sad, old, broken greenhouse is not quite frozen yet. Today I trudged up the hill to find I can still pull out perfect crisp and juicy carrots!

There was only a little kale left and my broccoli is frozen, so next July I think I'll plant an extra heap of root veggies for winter. I'm throwing these into my magic soup that is bubbling on the stove today. I'll post the recipe and the story that goes along with it at a later date.