122003Good Things and Recipes

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