IS IT STILL THERE . . . . . IN OUR HEARTS?

Yesterday, I was thinking about celebrating our Independence Day on the Sabbath.  It is so appropriate. When you read about the signers of the Declaration of Independence, you find out that many of them were wealthy family men who really weren't financially troubled by the taxes and other restrictions placed on them by England.  They had all that they needed in that respect.  They had not much to gain and so much to lose by that one action.  Many of them did just that, lost a lot, in some cases, even some or all of their family members.  Were they saints, no, but who among us are.  How many of us would have the courage to risk so much for others?  I love and appreciate these men and look up to them.

I appreciate that they were God fearing men who began all of their meetings with prayer, calling on God to assist and guide them as they set  into motion the events that would establish our country.  I thought of this as I sang our national anthem as Sacrament Meeting started this morning.

This is a blessed nation.  It was even before it's conception by man.  They were driven by worldly riches so many times and unknowingly set the stage for this Promised Land to be brought to fruition.  Yes, in the long run, many riches were discovered.  Gold and silver to start with, later other natural resources that have enabled us to grow and lead in the industrial period that brought so much wealth, incentive to think out of the box. To improve what men needed to make their lives easier or even just possible.  So much vast land that is so fertile.

I thank our Heavenly Father every day that I was so blessed to live in this land.  That I was sent to a pretty humble family who taught me to work hard to meet my own needs and the needs of my family.  I thank Him for a mother whose faith was unshakable.  She didn't always have the greatest understanding of Gospel Principles, but she taught us to search prayerfully and never, never give up.  To draw on any and all resources to find the eternal based answers that He had for me.  To be patient while waiting for those answers.  By waiting I mean "productively waiting".  Continuing to do all that I can.  God and Christ will know when I really have done all that I can, and then they will step in to give me what I need to accomplish or understand.

I know that Jesus Christ is my Savior.  I know that he experienced all the pain, anguish, and regrets that I would some day experience as He atoned for my sins and mistakes.  I also know that he rejoices with me in those moments when I and my loved ones celebrate the the happy times.  I know that by sending me here,  they expect much of me.  I am thankful for that blessing and embrace the responsibility that comes with it.  I also know that They feel the same way about every person on this earth. 

This whole thought process began during the opening song in Sacrament Meeting this morning.  I lose my emotions every year when we sing patriotic songs at church.

Please take the time to read all of the words in our national anthem..  Please open your minds and hearts as you read them.  Try to put yourself in the shoes of Francis Scott Key as he was being held prisoner on a British ship and asked repeatedly, "Is it still there?"

The Star Spangled Banner Oh, say, can you see, by the dawn's early light,  What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming?  Whose broad stripes and bright stars, thru the perilous fight,  O'er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming?  And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air,  Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.  O say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave  O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave? On the shore dimly seen through the mists of the deep,  Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence reposes,  What is that which the breeze, o'er the towering steep,  As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?  Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam,  In full glory reflected, now shines on the stream:  Tis the star-spangled banner: O, long may it wave  O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!
And where is that band who so vauntingly swore  That the havoc of war and the battle's confusion  A home and a country should leave us no more?  Their blood has washed out their foul footsteps' pollution.  No refuge could save the hireling and slave  From the terror of flight or the gloom of the grave:  And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave  O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.
O, thus be it ever when freemen shall stand,  Between their loved home and the war's desolation!  Blest with victory and peace, may the heav'n-rescued land  Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation!  Then conquer we must, when our cause. it is just,  And this be our motto: "In God is our trust"  And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave  O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

History: In 1814, about a week after the city of Washington had been badly burned, British troops moved up to the primary port at Baltimore Harbor in Maryland. Francis Scott Key visited the British fleet in the Harbor on September 13th to secure the release of Dr. William Beanes who had been captured during the Washington raid. The two were detained on the ship so as not to warn the Americans while the Royal Navy attempted to bombard Fort McHenry. At dawn on the 14th, Key noted that the huge American flag, which now hangs in the Smithsonian's American History Museum, was still waving and had not been removed in defeat. The sight inspired him to write a poem titled Defense of Fort McHenry. The poem was eventually set to music that had originally been written by English composer John Stafford Smith for a song titled "The Anacreontic Song". The end result was the inspiring song now considered the national anthem of the United States of America. It was accepted as such by public demand for the next century or so, but became even more accepted as the national anthem during the World Series of Baseball in 1917 when it was sung in honor of the brave armed forces fighting in the Great War. The World Series performance moved everyone in attendance, and after that it was repeated for every game. Finally, on March 3, 1931, the American Congress proclaimed it as the national anthem, 116 years after it was first written.

Foil Dinners . . . . More Of the Story

I made these with my girls and the grand kids yesterday.  With all that we were trying to do in one day, I didn't get quite the set-up to photograph that I wanted so I will share a little of the results and try to do some on "dressing them for success"   (wrapping). . . man was that just too corny?  You will see why in a few lines   {:-D

We set out all the choices for every one to pick from.  Each mom had one child at a time come in to make their "foily".

I used several ingredients from my food storage.   Every thing that has an * came from the can.  ** means it was dehydrated!

This is an easy way to keep the fat content in your foods way down.  I cut away all the fat I can while chopping the meat.  It makes the veggies so tasty that kids will usually eat them better than they do at other times.



GOOD STUFF FOR FOILIES

• 3 - 4 oz. cut up meat/foily (we had chicken and fajita beef)
• **chopped mushrooms
• **minced onions
• **diced bell peppers
• *pineapple chuncks
• zucchini, chopped
• **carrots, sliced
• ** diced potatoes
• chopped celery

Seasonings:

• **Lawry's
• **Mrs. Dash 
• **Spike
• **McCormick's Salt Free All Purpose
• Salt & Pepper

Sauces--

• **Magic Mix + Beef Broth mixed with water
• Sweet & Sour --  I'll put the recipe for this with the recipe later tonight with the Pineapple Chicken Foily instructions.  You'll love it!

Little warning--  These sauces are runny unless you cook them first to thicken them.   You can turn the edges up around the foil to hold it until it in until you wrap it up, but it is still a little tricky.  My sauce poured all over the table because I really didn't pay attention.  The kids seemed to think it was a pretty good show. . .  BUT . . .

Notice something that I didn't put out there?  Cabbage leaves.  Yes, I had half a head in the fridge and didn't put it out.  Silly me, decided to break my own rule since we were going to be cooking them in the BBQ grill so I thought it would be controlled enough that we shouldn't have a problem.  So hopefully, others will learn by the experience of me and mine!





Most were able to salvage most enough for lunch, but we did a lot snacking since there was so much loss.





I guess I kind of cheated, I made the Sweet & Sour Chicken with lots of sauce.  It did turn out heavenly.  I will put that whole recipe on later tonight or tomorrow.






Planned Posts for the next few days :

• Sweet & Sour Pineapple Chicken
• Spice Cupcakes in an orange rind or foil cup cake liner
• German Chocolate Cake in the dutch oven

I hear these went over big at  Girls' Camp . . .  don't miss them!

FEEDING GROUPS AND GIVING CHOICES with FOIL DINNERS

We didn't get any pictures of the set-up yesterday at camp, so I will try to recreate it here at home.  Tomorrow I will start posting more details with pictures. I'm serving them to my family this whole weekend  ;-?

I have been asked to feed a lot of groups over the years ranging from cub scouts, family get-to-gethers, girls' camp, retreats, and just camping as a family.  I realized that I was drawing from that when I put the camp cooking classes together.  The three main dishes all had choices for each person to make according to their appetite and taste.

With summer here, these would work so well at so many gatherings.   Just think of how happy it will make my family the rest of this miserable season (Southern Arizona has been hit with it's annual mug and it is miserable) when they will all get to make their own choices and it is cooked out on the BBQ or patio so they can eat in relative "less discomfort".

FOIL DINNERS or FOILIES

Rules for Success

• Foil--Don't scrimp on foil.  I have seen more disasters because of this one mistake.  You need to be able to seal the dinner really well to preserve moisture, keep ashes, dirt, and whatever else is lurking around out of our food.  Even with this, you'll have plenty of grit for your gizzard, if you get my drift!  I have used regular weight successfully when there were no little piggies who made huge heavy dinners.  If you aren't sure about it holding up to the flipping and long cook time, go ahead and wrap a second time.  If you have a bunch of guys, go ahead and play it safe with heavy duty.
• I never make mine 2" thick.  Inch and half at the most.  You'll be more likely top have it cook evenly.  Ever had one that is black half way through and then raw in the middle, YUCK!  Dangerous too.
• Meat--I always cut or break up the meat and scatter it through all the other ingredients.  I know you have all seen the hamburger patty, bleeding in the center with blackened veggies all around.  A slab of chicken can leave you with the same e-coli or salmonella. with built-in charcoal to help with the problems.
• Cabbage Leaves--  I know . . . . "I don't like cabbage!"  If you are making big foilies, these nice juicy leaves can go a long way in preventing food from burning or drying out.  They insulate, add moisture to help steam your meal and the flavors to blend do nicely.  IF you must, just chuck them when you eat, BUT, be brave, try them.  I have seen so many kids nibble, nibble, smile and eat them up!  I do love it when I'm right, or when I'm wrong and learn something new.
• Sauces-- A lot of people like to use some of the good old canned creamed soups.  Since I do love gravy, I like this idea.  Since I need to watch the salt and the fat, I avoid them.  It's just another choice you can give everyone.  There are also gravies in cans, bottle or packs.  Another option would to put some liquid in it, very carefully and sprinkle in some powdered gravy mix. With the Pineapple Chicken, I mixed all the sauce ingredients in a bowl, added a little corn starch and poured it in the pouch just before I wrapped it up.  it thickened while it cooked.  Loved it.   It would have been easier to add and keep it in the pouch if I had cooked and thickened it first, but that would have been harder in the "wilds".
• Seasonings--Salt, pepper, and Lawry's are the required ones of course.  I also like to use some imagination.  Try Cajun, Mexican, Italian, Mrs. Dash (there is a variety, have some fun), Spike (the precursor to Lawry's), maybe some garlic powder.  The sky's the limit!

Here are some good combinations:

• Traditional--Hamburger (broken up), potatoes, carrots, onions.  Try adding some celery, peppers, mushrooms, corn, just about any veggies that you like.
• Irish--Canned corned beef (broken up), diced potatoes, minced onion, cabbage, required this time {:-D  The cabbage could be leaves or chopped up to make it easier to eat everything all mixed up in each delicious delectable bite.  Oh boy, I 'm getting hungry . . . .
• Ham--  Just substitute ham for the corned beef.  It can even be a canned ham.  If I was using a canned ham, I would dice and brown it first.  I suppose, if you were raised the way I was and you could actually stand the thought, you could use Spam  . . . . . I can NOT believe I just wrote that.  But camping is camping and I have been amazed how many people didn't consider being fed that was cruel and unusual punishment.  My own son went to Hawaii on a mission and came home warped and liking Spam.  He talked me into trying his favorite Ramen noodles with diced Spam and BBQ sauce . . . . .  AARRGGGGHHHH!  He's been home for 8 years and still insist it's delicious.
• Pineapple Chicken  --  This seemed to go over big at Girls' Camp.  Our family is making it tomorrow for supper.  I will post it with pictures tomorrow night.
• Home Cooking -- OK let's really think about getting our minds out of our little boxes.  How about taking care of all those little Macaroni Dinner lovers out there.  Cook some noodles or macaroni and set out the selection.  This would be a great time to use some "sauce" or cabbage leaves so the pasta doesn't dry out while the other stuff melts or cooks.  Think about it.  What are your favorite casseroles?  Oh, yum, wouldn't that be wonderful to dig in to that wonderful, gooey yumminess?

COOKING--Just lay these in the coals and turn once in awhile.  Use long tongs and be very careful so that you don't find your shoe melting . . . no, I haven't done that but I did have to pull a girl out one time before the heat melted through! 

Home Version or Get the Heat of your Kitchen--Bake all these in your backyard BBQ.  Don't have one?  Have you ever used your crock pot for an oven?  They work quite well.  Sometimes, I do put a little water in the bottom and use a rack to raise the food above it.  This is not the fast way to do it, but if you live in an apartment that has an "outdoor space", get that heat out of your kitchen!  Just plan on getting an early start.  An electric skillet (or griddle) would also work out there.  How about your favorite toaster oven, mine spends most summers on our patio.

CAMP COOKING WITH THE GIRLS

The day is over.  Kathy was wonderful, wish I had a picture of her up there. She was taking the pictures of the first group and then was manning the two heaps of coals.and getting all those cute little foils packs cooked.  We decided that it would have been way better with three of us . . . . and that was with LOTS of help coming in and voluterring from all the adults leaders up there who were not  occupied at the moment.  I had to teach them as well., but they were so great to jump in . . .  and saved the day.

Here are just a very few pictures. . . . . . . . can you tell that it was the third day for most of them in a very hot, dusty dirty camp?    The camp is over 7,000 ft, but just how cool can you be when you are surrounded by HOT desert?

Finally got there after following slo-o-o-o-ow construction trucks all the way up.

  

The girls seemed to really like all that we made.  Only one chicken foilie didn't get eaten completely.  Everything else got eaten.

I may be wrong, but the best news of the day was when some of the leaders came & wanted to check out what the girls were talking about.   some of the girls had to come back to get their orange spice cupcakes, and showed up . . . happy Dance! Just talked to Kathy and she said that everyone was still talking about the food later in the day (she stayed up after I left to come home).  there is the reference for the dishes that I will be posting tomorrow and Friday.    Didn't get pictures up there since we were working so fast, so one guess what I will be eating the next couple of days . . . . but NOT heating up my kitchen!!!



Each class was 45 minutes.  In that time the girls were able to put together Baggie Omelets, HERE, Orange Rind Cupcakes, Pineapple Sweet & Sour Chicken Foilie, and Chile Stacks in a Bag, HERE.  By the second group they got to eat everything except the cupcake. before they left.  Just to give you sense of time.

HAVE YOU GIVEN UP ON ME YET?

Believe it or not, I have been very busy this week preparing to teach some of the youth at our church's summer camp.  I made these at home and will be posting all I have experimented and later this week.

This is Sweet & Sour Pineapple Chicken made in a foil dinner.  Yes, I played with it.  for one thing, I had a bunch of orange slices left over from making Spice Orange Cupcake in an orange rind, so I threw in some of the slices!

Sorry there is no picture of the cupcake, but we will be making them with 13-14 year old girls tomorrow and will have lots of pics then.  They were so good!

Then, how many of you love German Chocolate Cake?  It only took two tries to get it just right in a dutch oven.  Not pretty, but hey, you have to hurt it to eat it, right?  It fell apart when I forgot to let it cool a bit before flipping the pot over  Hey on the way to a sewing class to learn how to use my digital machine to its full potential.

See you all on Thursday!!

BTW . . . . . I just learned to make 4 loaves of Whole Wheat Bread in one hour, yes I did just say that, ONE HOUR!

I will share that with you on Friday!!

Have you Checked Out This Website?

I was cruising around and ran across this website again.  For some good giggles and pointers, check it out.  He is good at teaching some very basic cooking principles!  Cook Like your Grandmother. 

FRESH PEACH PIE

My SIL told me about having this pie a couple of years ago and it sounded so yummy!

Here is how I made it.

Ingredients:


12 oz peach nectar
1 T. lemon juice
3 T. cornstarch
1/2 C. sugar  (plan to double in the next pie)
4 peaches (about 3.5" to 4 " diameter)
1 baked 8" pie crust  HERE  (I don't have a post for crust and I know hers is great!)
Whipped topping (your choice)

Directions:

1--Mix nectar, sugar and cornstarch in pan.  Heat until mixture thickens.  Cool in fridge .
2--Make the pie crust and bake in pan.   Remember to prick it before baking or you will have a big ole puffy sopapilla!  Yeah, I forgot.  Had to poke it back down
3--Peel the peaches and drop in water to keep them from turning dark.
4--Slice peaches to desired thickness.  I liked the slices that were sliced pretty thin, under 1/4" at the thickest side.
5--Mix the slices and nectar mixture.
6--Pour filling into shell after it cools.
7--Top with whipped topping of your choice.
8--Chill in fridge for a couple of hours

As we were eating and critiquing the pie, I asked the girls what they thought would make it better.  Brave, aren't I?  ( I have often left myself open for all kinds of "opinions" and now get them whether I ask for them or not!)

My daughter suggested using a cookie crust.  I do like that idea.   Here is the recipe for those HERE.

My DIL thought upping the sugar in the saucy stuff to counteract the tartness of some of the slices would be good.  I think that would be good and keep the light freshness for summer weather. I must admit, I liked the tartness, but I am such an ole sour puss that that isn't surprising!

When we finish the second pie, I will use up the rest of my peaches and share the results with you.

I was just enjoying another piece of my Fresh Peach Pie and found that the crust was just a little soggy in the bottom of the pie.  Drat!  I forgot to brush it with egg white!  The sides of the crust are still good so I just scooped the filling and grabbed a little crust from the side.  :-O

Bake your crust for about 10-12 minutes at 400 degrees, brush with slightly beaten egg whites.  Bake until it is lightly golden and looks dry.