Pear and Cranbery Crisp

Filling

• 3 ripe pears
• 1/2 c whole-berry cranberry sauce
• 3 T sugar
• 1 T lemon juice
• 1 T flour

Crisp Topping

• 1/2 c flour
• 1/3 c old-fashioned oats
• 1/3 c packed light brown sugar
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon
• 4 T cold butter, cut into 8 or 10 pieces
• Pinch of salt
• 1 tsp milk

Grease four 1-cup ovenproof custard cups or crocks and place them on a baking sheet.  Halve pears, peel, then hollow out cores with a spoon.  Dice.  Place 3-1/2 cups of diced pears into a mixing bowl.

Add remaining filling ingredients to the bowl of pears, mixing well.  Divide the fruit measure evenly among the 4 custard cups.

Heat oven to 375.  Meanwhile, combine all of the topping ingredients except the milk in a large bowl.  Rub together the ingredients with fingertips to create large buttery crumbs.  Drizzle the milk over the mixture to moisten it, then divide the topping evenly among the cups, patting it down lightly.

Bake the crisps for 30 to 3 minutes or until they start to bubble and the topping is golden brown.  Transfer the baking sheet to a cooling rack for at least 20 minutes before eating.  Serves 4.

We've been hearing...

More Valentine Blessings

 

 

Our Valentine's Dinner began with happy, welcoming greeters!

And our drinks were kept filled by attentive hostesses.

 

Valentine Silliness

Tiddly-winks with bingo dots won pieces of chocolate and so many Wii minutes.  Obviously, SOMEone was on a mission.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Next was a Balloon Blitz, requiring a blown-up balloon to be released to hopefully land on or between squares with "valuable" dots.  This was pretty amusing since the released balloons would go anywhere BUT on the large designated floor area!

Then came a memory test after a 20-second stare.

Finally, a trail of riddles took them on a hunt, leading them to a couple of "heart treasures" inside the washing machine!

A Beautiful Gift....

....gave me these roses.

The Simple Woman's Daybook

Outside my window....the snow has collected into the corners of the sills, setting off the color of night and making me feel even cozier as I sip hot cocoa in my pomegranate-red living room.

I am thinking....how nice to have the house to myself...and to know I will share it again.

I am thankful for....the day Wayne was snowed in with us this week.

For learning....Jake and Kylie will continue verse/word studies using the 1828 Webster's Dictionary.

From the kitchen....have come several new recipes this week!

I am wearing....a long-sleeved, white cotton shirt with rhinestone-studded collar line, blue jeans, and my big pink piggy slippers that Kylie coaxed me into buying.

I am creating....more order little by little.

I am going....with my Valentine to the V-Day Dinner tomorrow where Jake and Kylie are serving with their youth group.

I am reading....The Illuminator by Brenda Rickman Vantrease.

I am hoping....to live more fully in Christ.

I am hearing....the comforting hum of the wood furnace blower against the quietness of being home alone.

Around the house....Mr. Clean's Magic Erasers have been busy!

One of my favorite things....is Jake's surprise shoulder massages.

A few plans for the rest of the week: tweak school plans, continue organizing and cleaning projects, reschedule lunch with a friend.

A picture thought of these journaling moments....

Bold Love Instruction

"The ability to instruct...comes, paradoxically, when one sees how simple--indeed, foolish and evil -- one is capable of being.  It is at the point that the heart feels it has no right to utter a word of counsel, that oddly enough, it is most likely not to offer the dribble of advice, but the broken communion of life-giving bread.  The bread may be nothing more than a look or a hug."
~ Bold Love by Dr. Dan B. Allender

Lord, thank You for every messenger who has brought Your much needed bread to me in a wordless love-filled look or hug.

Eggnog Muffins

Batter

1/4 c (1/2 stick) butter

3/4 cup sugar

2 large eggs

2-1/2 c flour

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp ground nutmeg

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp eggnog flavor or 1 tsp vanilla

1-1/4 c eggnog or Half-n-Half

Topping

1/2 c sugar

1/2 c flour

1/4 tsp nutmeg

1/8 tsp eggnog flavor, optional

3 T butter, melted

Preheat oven 425.  Spray 12 muffin cups.  In medium-sized bowl, cream together butter and sugar till smooth.  Add eggs, beating several minutes and scraping bowl, until mixture is smooth and light colored.  Beat in baking powder, nutmeg, salt, and eggnog flavor or vanilla.

Stir flour into butter mixture alternately with the eggnog or half-n-half, beginning and ending with the flour and making sure everything is thoroughly combined.  Spoon batter evenly into greased muffin cups.

Stir together all topping ingredient JUST until crumbly, without overmixing into a solid mass.  Sprinkle over muffins.  Bake 20 minute or just until they're a pale golden brown.  Remove from oven and serve warm or at room temperature.  Makes 12 muffins.

Morning After the Storm...

Blizzard of 2010

Lasagna Soup

All welcomed this into the recipe box!






 1-1/2 lbs. Italian sausage or hamburg
2 onions, finely chopped
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 tsp. oregano
1/2 tsp. red pepper flakes
2 T tomato paste
1 (28-oz) can diced tomatoes
6 c chicken broth
2 bay leaves
 8 oz. fusilli pasta
1/2 c finely chopped fresh basil
1/4 tsp. salt
pinch of pepper
2 c shredded mozzarella

In a large pot, break up and saute meat until cooked through.  Drain excess fat from pot.  Add and saute onions until softened.  Add garlic, oregano, and red pepper flakes; saute for 1 minute.  Add the tomato paste and saute until pasta turns a rusty brown.  Add tomatoes with their juice, the broth, and the bay leaves and bring soup to a boil.  Reduce heat and simmer about 30 minutes.

Add pasta, then increase heat to boil pasta al dente.  Discard bay leaves, then stir in the basil.

Serve with toppings of Parmesan cheese and mozzarella.  Makes about 13 cups.

We did it, Kylie!

The BIG Snow Day

 (Had I been faster, I'd have gotten her other seven perching girlfriends before they continued their seed search.)

 

Snow days seem to move moms to the kitchen.... 

...vanishing oatmeal bars for the morning,

....an Elvish Snowman Snack with lunch,

....and Veggie Cobbler for supper.

Fun Words

snafu

betwixt

flibbertygibbet

skedaddled

stellar

befuddled

A Prayer for Home

 

Lord, this humble house we'd keep

Sweet with play and calm with sleep.

Help us so that we may give 

Beauty to the lives we live.

Let Thy love and let Thy grace,

Shine upon our dwelling place.

~Edgar A. Guest

Husband Reads Holiness

Tired eyes, fading-day sounds,
            nestle down.
I hear his voice
            Quiet-steady
                        Beautiful-strong.
....a cozy calm

Trickling in,
                Washing mind
                               Wooing heart
                                             Weaving soul
into Scripture song.

Flowing now,
               Seeping down
                               Tasting meaning in Truth spoken,
                                              Sweetly feeding
From His palm on unsung psalm.

Soaking through,
                Sounds have bathed,
                                             unbound
                                                      ....into cozy calm
with spirit balm

as husband reads holiness.

Sassy Snowmen