Pumpkin Pilaf and Meeting Jesus

This dish Pumpkin Pilaf with Dry Fruits on Campfire

from Country Life Vlog

inspired last night's supper!

So, no recipe...

I just tried to imitate what she did, 

the huge difference being, mine was not cooked on a campfire...

The result was pure delight!

SO good😋

(I missed a picture of one step)

After soaked rice, sugared, spiced pumpkin and boiling water-soaked raisins

 are layered in the pan make a sauce of melted butter, white sugar...

Add milk or light cream and boiling water to pan, 

enough liquid to make enough sauce to barely cover pilaf...

Bake at 350-375 till rice and pumpkin are cooked!

Life is like a buffet with lots on display

to whet desire's appetite and keen delight!

This morning's Daily Bread Devotion

challenges us to 

'Delight yourself also in the Lord,

And He shall give you the desires of your heart.

Psalm 37:4

Just between you and me

Oh, wouldn’t it be grand

If we would find felicity

In love’s greatest command

And wouldn’t it be nice

To train our taste and touch

To glory in the sacrifice

Of second miles and such

The common bond of need

Makes us like family

Where we all shoulder word and deed’s

Responsibility

The common bond of grace

Levels the playing field

Where delight and desire chase

What soon turns into yield

Just between you and me

Let’s picture if we can

Beneath the faces that we see

Jesus as fellowman

Ah, suddenly want's wish

We'd reevaluate

Embarrassed by the empty dish

Beside our heaping plates

Just between you and me

Oh, wouldn't it be grand

If, as we/He reached out we would see

The nail-scars in His hands  

© Janet Martin

Matt.25:40

And the King will answer and say to them,

 ‘Assuredly, I say to you, 

inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, 

you did it to Me.’

Prelude to the Awakening

Whoa!! 

The morning dissolved in errands that started at sun-up, 

then to a batch of bread...

a pan of granola bars

(recipe note: substitute dried cranberries with  any dried fruit, or chipits)

and if I don't have barley flakes I substitute quick oats and ground flax seed

...also, speaking from experience, the 20 min. cool time is optional if you want a sample sooner😀

and the whole morning had intermittent explosions/interruptions of harmonica music 

(my new toy thanks to some Christmas gift$$$ 

and an invitation to play for the kids at church on Sunday)!

Hello, heaven’s halo gleaming 

From a vault unplumbed, unfurled 

Like a fount of sequins streaming 

Through Want’s dreaming, scheming world 

Where progression and tradition 

Engage in clashing ideals 

Locking horns in opposition 

While time spins and thins its wheels 

Hello morning, Mercy’s token 

Fixed where every eye can see 

God has spoken, darkness broken 

By Ageless Authority 

He bestows gracious oblation 

Dawn throbs with love’s melody 

Pouring like an invitation 

Beckoning ‘come unto Me’ 

Hello, hope and heartache tango 

Teaching us the art of trust 

How to hold and how to let go 

In this dance of dust-to-dust 

Hello, happiness and hunger 

Learning love’s rhythm and rhyme 

Where no one is growing younger 

In the arms of Father Time 

Hello, season-circuit rider

On a phantom carousel

Of spring, summer, autumn, winter

Until we bid time farewell

Farewell, legacy-composer  

Farewell, fleeting breath-by-breath

Hello, morning drawing closer

The awakening in death

© Janet Martin 

Listened to this song from my daughter's playlist

this morning... 

Finally Free-Rend Collective

Psalm 136:1

Oh, give thanks to the LORD, for He is good! 

For His mercy endures forever.

1 Chronicles 16:34
Give thanks to the LORD, for He is good; 

His loving devotion endures forever.

Psalm 145:9
The LORD is good to all; 

His compassion rests on all He has made.

It's A Mad, Sad, Glad World

 The madness and sadness of this world sometimes threatens to overthrow gladness!

But if we keep our eyes on He who has overcome we will find reason over reason 

to keep the faith...

From the simplest to the most profound, comes gladness!

These tea-biscuits (recipe below) took their simple gladness to my mom the other day

where my sister-in-law, mom and I enjoyed an afternoon of scrabble!

Sometimes it’s all the madness that makes it too hard to laugh

The cold tone of a busy world bent on stockpiles of chaff

With blatant disregard to That which does not lose its worth

But returns to the Giver as life’s spark is snuffed from earth

Sometimes it’s all the sadness that makes it too hard to sing

And prayer feels like a weight of great and wordless offering

Where nothing seems to make much sense to logic of the mind

Where only trust is our Defense because faith is sight-blind

Sometimes it's all the gladness as we pause to count the ways

That love never forsakes us but fills thankful hearts with praise

That in spite of the madness and the sadness of this life

The greatest of these, love, makes hope’s fount of gladness run rife

© Janet Martin

 In this world you will have trouble. 

But take heart! I have overcome the world."

John 16:33

Lemon-Cranberry Tea Biscuits

READY IN: 30mins

YIELD: 10 biscuits

• 2 cups flour
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 4 teaspoons baking powder
• ¹⁄₂ teaspoon cream of tartar
• ¹⁄₂ cup butter cold
• 1 cup cold milk

  zest of one lemon

  handful of dried cranberries

DIRECTIONS

• Put first 5 ingredients in bowl.
• Stir thoroughly
• Cut in butter until crumbly.
• add lemon zest and cranberries
• Pour in milk.
• Stir quickly to combine.
• Dough should be soft.
• Turn out on lightly floured surface.
• Knead gently 8-10 times.
• Roll or pat 1/2 to 3/4 inch thick or half the thickness you want the baked product to be.
• Cut with small round cookie cutter.
• Place on greased cookie sheet close together for soft sides or apart for crisp sides.
• Bake in 450 degrees oven for 12 to 15 minutes.
• Brushing biscuits with milk before baking will produce a pretty brown top.
• Makes 10.

Autumn Supper Hour (or ten minutes ;-)

 It takes a  lot longer to make a meal appear than disappear, huh?!!

I would like to start a what's-for-supper weekly post.

and the plan was to do it last night but that didn't work out

so here it is, the morning after...

I got a Pampered Chef pizza stone recently and finally had a chance to try it out! YUM!!

(google a pizza dough recipe that works into your time-frame) 

Also, had to settle for cheddar cheese instead of mozzerella because I didn't have any on hand. 

(Pizza is one of the most versatile foods I can think of!)

With the leftover pizza dough I made a few cheese rolls so we had the option of rolls or pizza with bean soup I prepared earlier in the day after cooking a ham bone the day before.

Skim fat then to the broth I added in proportion to pot and broth-batch-size,

a lot of thinly sliced onions, thinly sliced cabbage, some chopped celery, 

precooked black beans and navy beans, a handful of chopped parsley, 

a hefty pinch of black pepper and some bay leaves...

(for extra flavour I added a few envelopes of onion soup mix as well.)

I would love to know what extra seasonings would work 

with this combination so that I can keep it 'pure'!

(I added no salt because ham broth and soup mix is salty)

Add water, in proportion to batch size for desired flavour and consistency.

The delight of the supper crowd, (aka Matt and Victoria) was SO worth the effort!

Made supper feel like a simple celebration for a work day completed...well almost. 

(there's always the cleanup after.)

this is what yesterday's day-end felt like...

The rush of rain has eased; the trees bedazzled with its gems

Blue and gray weave a brooding blanket tossed across the day

The colours of October flare and dim on wooden stems

As twilight layers deepen and fold outdoor worlds away

Suppertime, like a simple celebration, warms and cheers

The lights of home beckon and draw our weary loved ones back

The Thing that turns us older as it spins laughter and tears

Is sweeter round a table where dusk trails night’s veil of black

…and makes us count the simple blessings that haste overlooks

It wakes a wordless hymn where time is both tender and brusque

And stirs an ache for pages sealed in fond echo-bound books

Yet makes us more aware of what slips through us dusk by dusk

The day is gathered in; darkness harvests earth's gold and red

We bow our heads in gratitude where swift the seasons roll

Thankful that Time slows down a bit in bowls of soup with bread

As supper’s simple celebration warms body and soul

© Janet Martin

After watching some pizza-dough-tossing videos I decided I'd like to learn to toss it like a pro!

Ha-ha! practice is required if you don't want to look like a snowman! 

Here is one video to teach the art of tossing a pizza crust

(note; some say never use a rolling pin to roll out the crust but rather just press with your hands)

I've tried both ways and the pizza disappears regardless! 😉