In everything we do

Lord of all pots and pans and things
Since I’ve no time to be
A saint by doing lovely things
Or watching late with Thee
Or dreaming in the sweet dawn light
Or storming Heaven’s gates,
Make me a saint by getting meals
And washing up the plates.

Although I must have Martha’s hands,
I have a Mary mind,
And when I black the boots and shoes,
Thy sandals, Lord, I find.
I think of how they trod the earth,
What time I scrub the floor:
Accept this meditation, Lord.
I haven’t time for more.

Warm all the kitchen with Thy love
And light it with Thy peace;
Forgive me all my worrying,
And make all grumbling cease.
Thou who didst love to give men food,
In room or by the sea,
Accept this service that I do–
I do it unto Thee

Cooking Thursday

Thursday, already????  Goodness, this week has flown.

Hope you're all having a fantastic week, mine is going pretty well :)

If you want to use the picture, just click here for the original.

So the recipe I'm sharing with you today is for a delicious bread loaf. It was easy to make and REALLY good, it didn't last 30 minutes after it was removed from the oven.

Multigrain Bread

3/4 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup steel cut oats
4 tbsp flax seeds
2 1/4 cups bread flour
1 1/2 tsp table salt or 3/4 tbsp kosher salt
1 1/3 cups water
1 tbsp white distilled vinegar
1/4 tsp instant yeast


Method
Whisk flour, steel cut oats, flax seeds, yeast, and salt in large bowl. Add water and vinegar. Using rubber spatula, fold mixture, scraping up dry flour from bottom of bowl until shaggy, sticky ball forms. Cover bowl with plastic wrap. Let dough rest at least 12 hours, preferably about 18, at warm room temperature, about 70 degrees.

Lay 12X18-inch sheet of parchment paper inside 10-inch skillet and spray with nonstick cooking spray. Dough is ready when its surface is dotted with bubbles. Transfer dough to lightly floured work surface and knead 10 to 15 times. Shape dough into ball by pulling edges into middle. Transfer dough, seam-side down, to parchment-lined skillet and spray surface of dough with nonstick cooking spray. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rise at room temperature until dough has doubled in size and does not readily spring back when poked with finger, about 2 hours.

About 30 minutes before baking, adjust oven rack to lowest position, place 6-8 quart heavy-bottomed Dutch oven (with lid) on rack, and heat oven to 475 degrees. Lightly flour top of dough and, using razor blade or sharp knife, make 3 slits along top of dough.

Carefully remove pot from oven and remove lid. Pick up dough by lifting parchment overhang and lower into pot (let any excess parchment hang over pot edge). Cover pot and place in oven. Reduce oven temperature to 425 degrees and bake covered for 30 minutes. Remove lid and continue to bake until loaf is deep brown and instant-read thermometer inserted into center registers 210 degrees, 20 to 30 minutes longer.

Carefully remove bread from pot; transfer to wire rack and cool to room temperature before slicing.

Quietly living

Some people may thrive in a room full of people.  In crowded places.  In a busy and constantly moving life.

I don't.

I like quiet, I like simplicity, I like being home with my family.  Just us 4, surrounded by these walls, by the things we love and just plain quietly living.

Happy Homemaker Monday #13

I can't begin to tell you how happy I am to be back, I feel completely refreshed and so excited to keep blogging and sharing with you all.

I'm going to do my very best to visit you in return, something which I'm not always very good at doing, things get in the way and I tend to completely forget.  But I'm going to try :)

If you want to save and use the new button, just click here.

The weather:::

It's cloudy this morning and 59 degrees, I'm surely hoping for some rain, even if just a little.  It does smell like it so maybe we'll get lucky :)


On my reading pile:::  
Sisters of the Heart Trilogy by Shelley Shepard Gray (loving this one, another Amish fiction)
Bible
Joyce Meyer Devotional - Promises for your Everyday Life
Joyce Meyer Devotional - Battlefield of the Mind

On my TV:::

Have 2 Titanic specials that I recorded this weekend and going to try and watch today.

Not sure if I mentioned it to anyone yet, but there are also 2 Titanic shows which are very good.  
Titanic with Len Goodman (you know the judge from Dancing with the Stars?), this one is fantastic, he concentrates on the people of the Titanic, the passengers and crew and who they were and life before, during and after the sinking of the Titanic.  If you are interested, starting tomorrow on your local PBS station, this one will be showing.  Be sure to catch it :)  

Titanic from ITV - created by Julian Fellowes the same man who created Downton Abbey.  This is a 5 episode special with many familiar faces and brilliant actors.  Every episode concentrates on a different family, so you get to know them and create a sort of bond with them and at the end the ship sinks.  It is really good and you can watch this one online here.

On the menu for this week:::

 Monday -  Biscuits and Gravy
Tuesday - Reunion Steak Sandwiches w/ Fries
Wednesday - Mexican Lasagna
Thursday -  BBQ Ribs, Baked Beans and Corn on the Cob
Friday -  Homemade Pizza
Saturday - *Grocery Shopping* 
Sunday -  

On my to do list:::

Laundry and more laundry
Rake and Week the back yard
Homeschooling

What I am sewing, crocheting, knitting or creating:::

Made a really cute Peg Bag, will share with you later this afternoon as well as the pattern.  Thinking of making another 1 or two :)

In Homeschooling:::

We're catching up today, we usually don't do schooling on Friday and then catch up during the weekend but being that it was Easter, we didn't do it either, so today it's all about catching up :)

Looking around the house:::

Blinds on my back door are open, curtains are pulled back and the screen shut to allow in some fresh air, minus the annoying flies.  The pugs are asleep on the couch.  The children are still in bed.

I'm sitting at my kitchen table with a cup of coffee and two toasted Hot Cross Buns for breakfast.  The dishwasher is humming behind me......it's almost a relaxing sound to me :)   I have my Kindle Fire open to my Bible Plan and as soon as I'm done posting this, I will be reading the verses for today and doing my devotional before starting housework. 

From the camera:::

Something fun to share:::
Well, I can't think of a single thing to share with you this morning LOL  Does that make me a bad meme host?  I sure hope not.  Strange though, I usually have so much going on in my mind and so many things to pass along and I can't think of a single one.  You'll have to forgive me this time.  

On my prayer list:::

Friends and family who are going through a bit of a rough time.
Myself, I'm constantly in prayer, especially lately as I have this battle raging inside my head.  But, good thing is that I can feel myself winning every day :) 

Bible verse, Devotional::: 

May God arise, may his enemies be scattered; may his foes flee before him. May you blow them away like smoke— as wax melts before the fire, may the wicked perish before God.

– Psalm 68:1-2 (NIV)

We went by

Barnes and Noble this morning.

My husband has decided to return to school and finish his Associate's Degree, which he only needs about 2 classes if that.  I'm so extremely proud of him, knowing that we are pretty much down to our last year or two of Military life before retirement, it's a good thing to get out of the way.

So our trip the bookstore was for some study materials and I was looking for a Pink Bible.  I have wanted one for so long and actually used to have one when I was a teenager, but left it back in South Africa and since then have never found another I liked.

I was in luck.  Barnes and Noble had a few in pink tones and I had one in my hand but then my wonderful husband saw this one and knew that it was what I was looking for.  It's gorgeous, simply gorgeous and I can't say it enough.  I immediately put the other one away.

I have sat looking at longingly and just imagining reading through it's pages, highlighting passages and really making it special.

I would have been fine with just my Bible but there were a few others that caught my eye.

Like this one....Whispers of Encouragement, Daily Inspiration for Women.

And Joy for a Woman's Soul - Promises to refresh your spirit

Lastly, I picked up the Devotional for Battlefield of the Mind by Joyce Meyer. I think these are all going to come very handy for me, especially right now.

If I was smart, I would have called it good and just headed on home, but I've never claimed to be wise, so we went into Kohl's.  Hahahahahah

Oh my word!  It was like Black Friday in there, what was with all the people out and about today, the traffic was insane, the stores were crazy.   But anyway, we walked in grabbed a few things and walked right out.

Trust in the Lord...love it :)

I've also been looking for a new Laundry basket and this one was just $10 so I couldn't just leave it there right?

 

Are you sick of all my pictures yet?

I hope not because I have just two more to share with you.

These baking dishes were on sale.  You KNOW I had to get them, they remind me of Cath Kidston and I think they say "ME".  Don't you?

They look wonderful in my kitchen and will be put to use for our Easter meal.

Speaking of which, tonight the kids and I will be making Resurrection Cookies.  Do you make these with your own children?  Here is the recipe we use and it's always fun :)

Resurrection Cookies

And now I need to get off of here, I have books calling my name and have to make the difficult decision of figuring out which one to read first.  Hmmmm????

Hope you all have a fantastic Easter Sunday.  God Bless!