Mentoring Woman: Get Back On The Horse!

Mentoring Woman: Get Back On The Horse!: It is officially Fall and with it brings apples.  We have a small orchard in the back yard and last year we had apples coming out of our...

Get Back On The Horse!

It is officially Fall and with it brings apples.  We have a small orchard in the back yard and last year we had apples coming out of our ears, but this year not so much.  I did get enough to put up a batch of applesauce and make this apple pie.

Now lest you be too impressed, let me tell you of my first pie experience.  When I was a young bride, I decided to make both a pumpkin and cherry pie. My brain was telling me, "How hard can this be?" But reality soon set in!  The crust did not have enough moisture in it, so it wouldn't hold together, and every time I tried to roll it out, it fell apart!  My ever sweet, and helpful husband, saw how frustrated I was becoming and tried to help me.  Finally, we took a brown paper bag (back in the day before plastic ones) and we ripped it open and rolled the pie crust out on that.  How we ever transferred it to the pie pan, I have no idea!  I'm sure my first pie was not very professional and I know it was certainly awkward to make.  Making good pies has taken years of continued practice!

Thus, begins my mentoring analogy and encouragement for this week.  Perhaps you are a new believer or have been around the block for a few years, and you just don't feel comfortable praying out loud.  I remember that feeling.  First you feel like you are talking to the wind (and in a way you are, the Holy Spirit is described in this way) and it is awkward when you hear yourself speak your thoughts out loud to God.  Then the devil enters into the equation and tells you that everyone is critiquing your words and what you are praying is not as professional sounding as the woman sitting next to you.  But that could not be farther from the truth! When you speak what is on your heart, your sister's in Christ can hear, be edified, and agree to what you are praying about.  James 5:16 says: "Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed.  The prayer of a righteous man (or woman) is powerful and effective."

When I was about 10 years old, I got bucked off a horse and I have the scar on my right palm to prove it (I grabbed the barbed wire when I was falling).  One of the hardest things I ever did was get back on a horse again.  Ladies, I am urging you to get back on the horse!  If you need help in this area, start out praying just a sentence or give a praise until you build your confidence. Believe me when I say this, all of us started there! Why is this so important? Because it is a vital step in our spiritual growth and we encourage our sisters when they hear us praying for their requests.  Come on girl, you got this!

PIE CRUST

2 cups flour

2/3 cup shortening (I like to use the Crisco Butter Flavored)

3/4 teaspoon salt

4-6 Tablespoons cold water (Use the minimum amount)

Makes enough dough for top and bottom crust

Here is my secret for combining everything

I put everything into a food processor and begin to add enough water until it forms a ball

 Next, roll out on a flour surface until it is a little larger than your pie pan

Slice up enough apples to fill the pan and mix them in a bowl

 with 3-4 Tablespoons flour (to thicken the pie)

1 Tablespoon of cinnamon

3/4 -1 cup sugar (depending on how tart your apples are)

Place bottom pie crust in pan and add apple mixture

Dot with pats of butter or margarine

Place top crust on

Crimp (technical term) the edges (as shown)

Spread some milk over the top and dust with sugar (gives it a nice brown crust)

Vent top as indicated in first picture above

Bake for 15 minutes at 425 degrees

Then reduce to 350 degrees for 20 minutes or until it 

gets brown.

Final Yummy result!  HAPPY FALL!!

Mentoring Woman: IT DOESN'T HAVE TO GET COMPLICATED!

Mentoring Woman: IT DOESN'T HAVE TO GET COMPLICATED!: I am thinking about the "Food Network" again (told you I was a fan).  There is a show called "Semi-Homemade" hosted by S...

IT DOESN'T HAVE TO GET COMPLICATED!

I am thinking about the "Food Network" again (told you I was a fan).  There is a show called "Semi-Homemade" hosted by Sandra Lee (not to be confused with Sandra Dee, who was an actress from the 50's and mentioned in the song from "Grease").

Sandra Lee takes already prepared mixes and packages of food to give her own spin on recipes.  It reminds me of a song by Barbara Mandrel called "I Was Country When Country Wasn't Cool!" I have been doing this all of my married 45 years!  I've used chili mix, instant puddings, and boxed scalloped or instant potatoes to create all kinds of dishes.  Just ask my husband!  Sometimes they were a hit and other times they were just "tasty" (which was my signal for perhaps I had better tweak the recipe or think about not fixing that one again!)

With today's challenges and schedules, it's okay for us to take shortcuts.  Not everything needs to be made from scratch or take hours of preparation.  It's okay that the living room isn't always picked up, after all you are living there, and chances are "Home and Garden" will not be calling you to come out and do a photo shoot!  When I find myself getting caught up in the mindset that everything must be perfect, I remind myself to take a deep breath and repeat a phrase that a friend of mine always likes to say, "Let it go Louie"!

Proverbs 17:1 says:  "Better a dry crust with peace and quiet than a house full of feasting with strife."
My mentoring thought today is this:  We can have the grandest of meals and the cleanest of homes but if we stress ourselves out and everyone around us in the process, what real gain do we have?  I am not advocating filthy homes or laziness, but I am saying that it's okay to breathe once in awhile and "Let It Go Louie"!

My semi-homemade project this week is this one.  I bought a dishtowel and a hot pad on sale for $.75 each (quite the end of the summer bargain shopper) and sewed the two together.  Then I sewed a button on front and added an applique I had on hand.  Now I can hook it on my stove to wipe my hands all for the low, low, price of $1.50! As Sandra Lee says "Keep it simple, keep it fun, and keep it semi-homemade!"

Sewn on top and bottom of potholder

Added applique

Mentoring Woman: "CAPE HAVE NO FEAR"

Mentoring Woman: "CAPE HAVE NO FEAR": I have been thinking about coverings and capes this week. I am back at my sewing machine and am making a cape for a 18" doll.  I am beg...

"CAPE HAVE NO FEAR"

I have been thinking about coverings and capes this week. I am back at my sewing machine and am making a cape for a 18" doll.  I am beginning to sew things for a booth at our annual Women's Cruise held at church each year.  Yes, I said a cruise at the church!  The whole church is set up as a cruise ship to some destination theme port (i.e. Hawaii, Mexico, etc.).  There are workshops to attend both spiritual and craft ones, a bazaar to shop at (that is where I come in), a health fair, and a themed lunch.  This is all for the low, low price of $10.00!  Fun, huh?  This might stir up something interesting for your own women's ministry.

As I was thinking about making this covering, a scripture came to mind found in Psalm 91:4:  "He will cover you with his feathers and under his wings you will find refuge; His faithfulness will be your shield and rampart."  Jesus uses a somewhat similar illustration in Matthew 23:37:  "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing."

There is an old movie from 1962 called "Cape Fear"  It stars Gregory Peck, Robert Mitchem, Polly Bergen, and other actors.  It is a movie about an ex-con tracking down a lawyer and his family through the backwoods in an act of revenge.  It was taken from a novel of John MacDonald and is very suspenseful to watch, in fact almost fearful (thus the name)!  It is one of those shows that you have to remind yourself "it's just a movie!"  However, there are many things in real life that can cause us to fear.  Money issues, world crisis, job security, raising children, marital problems, and so forth.

My mentoring reminder today is this:  We do not need to fear!  Our God promises to keep us under His wings of refuge and our scripture says, He is faithful to do this! Also notice what Jesus comments about Jerusalem, "But you were not willing."  It takes some trusting on our part and we have to be willing to let God do this!  When satan wants to cause us to worry and our mind wanders into parts unknown, we need to use scripture to combat it,  It is the very thing that Jesus did in the wilderness and it's the only thing that will set our hearts and minds at ease. If we do this, and then recognize what a faithful God we have, than we should have no fear!

I do not have a pattern for this creation but I will tell you how I made it.  I found a large platter that was round and traced around it.  I cut it out and in this case I used corduroy.  Then I cut that circle straight across about 3/4 way up. Then I used a small dessert plate to cut out a neck opening.  I used fake fur to trim the neck and each front side.  I then used bias tape around the bottom and cut slits for the arm holes and sewed bias tape around them also.  Nothing too hard...if I can do it, you can!  The great part is the total cost was probably only $1.00 (not counting time of course).

Mentoring Woman: IS YOUR NOSE GROWING?

Mentoring Woman: IS YOUR NOSE GROWING?: Do you ever exaggerate the truth in order to get your point across?  Take for instance,  the other night I was sitting in my chair, and out ...

Mentoring Woman: IS YOUR NOSE GROWING?

Mentoring Woman: IS YOUR NOSE GROWING?: Do you ever exaggerate the truth in order to get your point across?  Take for instance,  the other night I was sitting in my chair, and out ...

IS YOUR NOSE GROWING?

Do you ever exaggerate the truth in order to get your point across?  Take for instance,  the other night I was sitting in my chair, and out of the corner of my eye I see this quick movement.   I looked and saw a huge spider!  I was just about to give him a big headache, when he takes off into the furnace duct.  The next day I was describing this "close encounter of the third kind" to my husband and said to him "The spider was as big as a saucer!"

Such was the case of the Israelites in Deuteronomy 1:27.  Moses tells us that when the people chose to rebel against the Lord they said things like "the Lord hates us" (Deut. 1:27) "the cities are large with walls up to the sky!" (Deut. 1:28)  Seriously, up to the sky?  Who but God could build a wall that high?  Quite an exaggeration huh?  Bottom line was...the Israelites lacked the faith to trust God. Just as we all do sometimes!  But good old Moses tries to calm their fears in these three ways:

1.  He reminds them that the battle is not theirs, it is the Lord's.  (Deut. 1:30, "The Lord your God is going before you,  He will fight for you"
2. He reminds them of their past victories. (Deut 1:30, "as He did for you in Egypt, before your very eyes, and in the desert."
3. He reminds them of God's faithfulness to them. (Deut. 1:31, "There you saw how the Lord your God carried you, as a father carries his son, all the way you went until you reached this place."

My mentoring challenge for us today is this:  If we sometimes feel the walls in our life are literally up to the sky, then perhaps these words from Moses will comfort our fears.  We must remember God is for us!  Romans 8:31,32 says: "If God is for us, who can be against us?  He who did not spare His own Son but gave him up for us all--how will he not also, along with Him, graciously give us all things?"  We should think on the ways God has met our needs in the past then if we do both these things, we will discover He has, and will be, faithful to you.  

Oh, and by the way, just so you know, that spider WAS as big as a saucer!

I'm sharing my "No Bake Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookie" recipe.  It is a family favorite (especially my husband's).  Come to think of it, I bet he is loving this blog because I keep pulling out and making his favorites once again.

You know it is a old one when it is yellowed like this one.  It is not even my handwriting so I don't know where it came from.  But it is a great one and that is no exaggeration!

NO BAKE CHOCOLATE PEANUT BUTTER COOKIES

2 cups sugar

1/4 cup butter

1/2 cup cocoa

1/2 cup milk

Mix ingredients together and boil in a pan over the store. 

 After mixture begins a rolling boil, keep boiling for 1 more minute.

Remove from heat.  Add 1/2 cup peanut butter and 1 tsp. vanilla.  Stir until peanut butter melts.  Mix in 2 cups rolled quick oats and drop onto a sheet of waxed paper.  If you want a almond joy kind of taste you could add a little coconut.