The Welcome Home ~
Good Things and Recipes ~
December 20, 2003
Good Morning, Dear
Sisters. Many blessings to you as we celebrate Christmastime. It’s
been quite awhile since I sent you a “Good Things and Recipes”
letter! I hope you pour a cup of tea, sit down and relax for a
moment as I share a few ideas with you.
I hope you’re enjoying the days of preparation for Christmas and no
matter how you and your family celebrate, I pray that you are
rejoicing in the gift of the LORD,
our Saviour. Rest in His love… none of the trivial things matter…
Christ’s birth was never about a shopping frenzy, or trees with
gifts or disappointment or sadness in reflection of all that can’t
or isn’t being done. None of all these things matter because the
birth of Christ was never about or for these things. Just know the
LORD loves you, died for you and seeks you for His own peculiar
treasure.
---Around the home this week---
One of the things
we do at the end of each year is to buy a new calendar and pages
(calendar/day/date, etc.) for our notebooks. While we still have
the “old” one hanging up, we write down important dates, birthdays,
anniversaries, etc. Then, I take the old calendar and put it
away---I’ve done this for many years. It’s amazing how quickly we
forget what happened and when. Old calendars are a journal of
sorts. They become part of the décor so much sometimes that we
forget to use them---but when used to jot down not just appointments
but other ‘milestones’ or events, they become a wonderful ‘record’
of the year.
Christmas Cards
are nice to receive and acknowledging or replying assures the sender
you appreciate them. I compare address labels with the address I
have in my “rolodex” file. If the address is new, I just cut the
label off the envelope and tape it to the rolodex card. This way, I
quickly have the information and I know the numbers won’t be
transposed in the recording! Also, I add a phone number/email
address if I have one for the person.
While the passing
year is on my mind, I also try to recall all the things I’d intended
to do during the past year---then, I make a note in my journal… if
these things are still important, then I make them a matter of
prayer and seek to complete or implement them. For example, I
wanted to maintain an early rising schedule---but in the last three
months have really fallen behind and so reestablishing that is one
of my priorities in the coming year… new years’ is a wonderful time
to launch a fresh start in something or several things. Not like
new year’s resolutions that are bound to fail, but things you know
you’ll be so glad you changed or implemented! Things you know
you’ve done well in the past but for some reason have left off
doing.
---In the Kitchen
this week---
As you work in the
kitchen perhaps you can do some things that will save you steps. I
like to share these tips with you from time to time to encourage
you.
Setting your
kitchen up into ‘centers’ or ‘areas’ really helps with
preparation---and saves you steps! The baking area with everything
in reach will make baking much more fun. Preparing dinner or
lunches is easier if all the necessary ingredients, equipment, etc.
are in the same area. Then, putting your baking supplies and
ingredients into containers really helps simplify baking. In your
cabinet, a heavy plastic basket/box can contain all your glass,
metal and plastic measuring bowls/cups and spoons. Another plastic
basket can hold your cookie cutters, presses, pastry blender,
rolling pin, rolling pin cover and cloth, etc. I have little spices
and extracts in a basket in my upper cabinet, along with baskets
that hold different things like jello and gelatin, baking chocolate
and bark, frosting tips, couplers and bags; another to hold the
attachments to the Kitchen-aid and another to hold the
food-processor attachments. See, these things save you steps by
keeping your cabinets neat and your ingredients easy to find.
All your baking
ingredients can be put into jars and/or canisters. My large bins
have 2 cup measuring cups in them and I always keep a 1 cup
measuring cup in each of the flours, sugars, grains, etc. I also
keep my baking powder, baking soda, salt in canisters which have a
measuring teaspoon and measuring tablespoon in each canister. I
have these in the canisters at all times so that I don’t need to be
concerned with locating or washing them each time. I have a small
plastic cup that I measured out 3 tablespoons into and made a line
on the cup at that point. It simplifies measuring when I’m making
biscuits, etc.
I use Silpat®
sheets on my baking pans and this eliminates scrubbing of sheets. I
also use parchment paper on the cookie sheets or foil to line pans.
After baking clean-up is nearly eliminated. If jars and bottles are
quickly wiped off before putting them back in the cabinet, then the
shelves will stay cleaner. This morning I was glad to have
previously cut many circles or rounds of parchment the sizes of my
cake pans. I have thirty or so of these paper circles which I store
in the pans in the cabinet. I have sheets pre-cut to other pans/pan
sizes as well. Restaurant supply stores sell sheets of parchment
(in 1000 sheet boxes) at great prices. O, and these make great
colouring pages for little ones!
Pan spray (pam or
goldensweet, etc.) is another ‘must have’ in our kitchen. I
quickly spray the inside of measuring cups before measuring honey or
molasses into the cup; the honey easily comes out without sticking
to the cup. I also spray my hands when I am pressing dough into a
pan or on a baking sheet or before pressing Rice Krispies Treats
into the pan.
This is a great
time of year to do a little cleaning! Yes! Right in the middle of
baking---clean a cabinet or drawer.
On the inside of
my cabinet doors in my kitchen I have taped all of our most used or
favourite recipes. I can easily see them while I’m preparing
recipes. I also have pictures of my children when they were
younger… while I’m cooking, I see their smiling faces! Favourite
recipes can be put in a binder with plastic page protectors. A
piece of saran wrap can be put over open cookbook pages to protect
them from spills and pages sticking together-never to be separated
again! If your cookbooks stay clean, after you pass on, people will
assume that the only thing you made for dinner was: RESERVATIONS!
~smile~
Another neat thing
to do is make a few dinners in advance---these are tough days to
plan meals, so if you have a few meals made up, you can pull them
out to thaw and then cook without interrupting your Christmas
baking. Today I’m cooking up quite a bit of ground beef which I
will use for spaghetti, a casserole and burritos. I’ll make all
these up in advance so that I’ll know in the back of my mind that
dinner’s taken care of. I also have cut up vegetables for steaming
or eating fresh with ranch-dip. For the rest of our family, I have
lunches somewhat planned and will attempt to keep them of some sort
of schedule so they don’t wander around grazing over the freshly
baked breads, pies and treats.
Finally, in the
kitchen this week and next, we’re baking, baking, baking! We want
to give home-baked and homemade gifts to neighbors and friends.
This is something we’ve been so looking forward to doing! We are
trying several new recipes and techniques. One’s already bombed…
the crust for the pecan-pie bars must be prebaked –then- add the
nuts and topping. It still eats well……. But it’s not a tight bar
cookie.
Butter cookie
dough rolled into a log and placed in the refrigerator will be ready
for slicing and baking in moments. My butter cookie recipe calls
for 8 egg yolks, so I just save the whites for meringues or
something like that to make on the same day. Nothing’s wasted this
way! When I’m chopping nuts or dates or cherries or whatever, I try
to plan ahead for the other recipes and chop what’s needed for them,
too. If I’ve got several recipes that call for softened butter, I
just put out on the counter all I’ll be needing, that way, the
butter’s ready for each next recipe.
It sure is a
temptation to eat the treats---but it’s more important to be
healthy---so my thoughts are to: moderation! A taste is adequate!
Well, this is all for now… my best to you and many blessings in the
Name of the LORD to you and your families.
Titus 2 says we
are to be teachers of “good things” so that’s the purpose of these
letters and of The Welcome Home letters.
Blessings!
Sincerely-------pamela spurling
http://www.achristianhome.com
The Welcome Home
© 2003