"But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world , and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs." 1 Timothy 6:6-10

Wednesday, February 14, 2018

Hard lessons

My youngest learned a hard lesson the other day.

She was getting her backpack ready for school when,  all of a sudden,  she started sobbing. I mean heart - wrenching,  horrible sobs.  I was stunned. I couldn't imagine what was causing near hysteria.

When she placed this in my hands,  I understood. 




What you see before you is the souvenir that my husband and I brought home for her from India.  It's a frog within a frog carved out of soapstone for our little amphibian lover.  She adores it... enough to bring it to school for show & tell. 

But then. She forgot about it.  Left it in the front pocket of her backpack... unprotected and subject to the rough treatment that an eight - year old girl's backpack goes through daily.

She's devastated. I feel terrible for her.

But I'm hoping this experience will help her remember in the future to be careful with things that are important and fragile.  That carelessness can be just as destructive as purposeful damage. 

It's a lesson we could all stand to remember. 


Monday, February 12, 2018

Beef Stew

My favorite Christmas gift this year (other than the acting lessons my husband bought me) is the Instant Pot my brother and his wife gave me.  I haven't spent a ton of time experimenting with it yet,  but what I have made in it has (mostly) turned out really well. 

I decided to make beef stew this week,  so I went to Pinterest (where else?) to find an Instant Pot recipe to try.  I decided on this one:

                          Instant Pot Beef Stew

I'm not going to lie.  It wasn't quick to make... there was quite a bit of chopping and the searing of the stew meat took a fair amount of time... but the results?

Incredible.  So,  so flavorful and the meat was very tender.

You must try this recipe.

You can thank me later.

Saturday, February 10, 2018

Super Bowl Fail

I was invited to a Super Bowl party at the home of some dear friends.  They are lovely people and generous hosts who provided chili, snacks and drinks.

I wanted to bring something to add to the pot, so I did what I always do when I'm looking for a fun new recipe to try.

I went to Pinterest, of course.

I checked my "party food" board, but didn't find much.  I decided that I would like to do a  cheese ball with crackers, so I looked at some different recipes.  I narrowed it down to two before heading to the store.  I decided on this delicious looking Pineapple Cheese Ball.  I gathered the ingredients and headed home.

Pineapple Cheese Ball
www.chef-in-training.com/2011/12/pineapple-cheese-ball

I started making the cheese ball, referring a couple of times to the recipe for measurements before deciding that I had the gist of it and could do the rest myself.

That's where things started to go wrong.

You see, the minute I stopped referring to the recipe was the minute I began conflating the two recipes.  I remembered that the recipe called for 1/2 c.  mayo, so I added what I had (not quite what called for...but no biggie, right?).

It immediately looked...soupy.  Huh.  "OH! I know...it's because I neglected to add the shredded sharp cheddar it called for!"  So I added that, too...but it STILL didn't look right.

So back to the recipe I went, only to discover that the mayo and cheddar were from the other, rejected recipe.  Ugh. That's what I get for getting cocky and abandoning the recipe.

I added a little more cream cheese to make it a little thicker and made my family taste it and reassure me it was ok (because I didn't like it at all).  I slapped on the pecans, shaped it into a terrible approximation of a football and brought it to the party.  People seemed to think it was ok, but I was still deflated (that was a bad Patriot's joke, in case you missed it).

Luckily, I made this no-fail favorite dessert and brought it, too.  Everyone LOVED it and I felt a little better. You should make it.  It's incredible.

Coconut Crunch Delight Recipe
Coconut Delight