Friday, October 29, 2010

Apple Cake Recipe

This cake is too good not to share. It’s a recipe by Corrie De Boer from my old Timothy Christian School of Owen Sound Cookbook which is falling apart.

4 cups chopped apples
2 eggs
2 cups sugar
2 1/2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons cinnamon
3/4 cup vegetable oil
1 cup walnuts
1 cup raisins
1 cup chocolate chips

Beat eggs, pour over apples. Sift dry ingredients, add oil and mix well. Stir in apples and eggs. Add nuts, raisins and chocolate chips. Batter will be very thick. Use 9 by 13 pan. Bake 1 hour at 325.

Thursday, October 28, 2010

Recipe for Granola Raisin Cookies

Okay Tami, here is the recipe for the cookies mentioned in my previous post.

3/4 cup butter, softened

3/4 cup brown sugar

Leave out the 1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 egg

2 tablespoons water

2 teaspoons vanilla (pure tastes best, but costs more and seems to spill more often)

3/4 cup all-purpose flour

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon cinnamon

3 cups granola (harvest crunch)

1 1/2 cups raisins

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cream butter, sugars, egg, water and vanilla together on medium speed until light and fluffy. Combine flour, soda and cinnamon. Add to creamed mixture, beating on low speed until blended. Stir in oats and raisins. Drop dough by heaping tablespoons onto greased baking sheets. Leave mounded for chewy crisp cookies. Bake 12 minutes.

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Proverbs 31 Woman—eh! Redeemed

My daughter pointed out that most people would give up on making cookies if they didn’t have the main ingredient.

I was set on oatmeal cookies. I didn’t want to go the store. I’d already been there.

So I changed the recipe, used granola instead of oatmeal and left out the white sugar because the honey in the granola would make the cookies sweet enough.

My husband’s comment, “We’re eating these faster than you can bake them.”

See if you can beat that that, Proverbs 31 woman—eh!
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Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Proverbs 31 Woman, eh?

My husband called me a Proverbs 31 woman as he walked past me. I was heading upstairs with a folded a stack of towels and wash clothes balanced on one arm while casually munching on an apple.

When I reached the top of the stairs I perched the half-eaten apple on the banister post. It immediately rolled off, splatting apple bits on the way down to the front hall where it landed as mush on the just-vacuumed hardwood.

Proverbs 31 woman, eh?

Next, I went out to light the gas barbeque on the deck. It’s thermometer was already registering 400 degrees. How much fuel can a barbeque which has been burning for 24 hours use up? What is that in dollars?

Proverbs 31 women, eh?

Monday, October 25, 2010

Nothing Like An Autumn Hike

Rustling leaves

Fallen trees

Crisp air

Balancing flair

Saturday, October 23, 2010

I'm a Municipal Politics Junkie

After going to 9 mayoral candidate debates, I feel like a political junkie. Why would anyone (other than a candidate) go to that many? I went to pray. I wasn’t the only one. There were a few of us who went to the meetings specifically to pray for truth and righteousness to prevail.

At the final debate I was sitting beside someone who told me that her 82-year-old salt-of-the-earth father surprised her by saying that if Larry Di Ianni and the pot-smoking guy were the only two candidates, he would vote for the pot-smoking guy.

I would certainly consider it.
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Cartoon drawn by editorial cartoonist Graeme MacKay.

Thursday, October 21, 2010

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Our Answer to Prayer is 14 Now

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When Amanda was five she prayed for a baby. We told her not to…but she did anyway…quietly. Fourteen and a half years later, we can honestly say that we’re glad she did.

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

A Plant is a Weed When…

…you don’t appreciate where it’s growing.

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Monday, October 18, 2010

Thanks Tillsonburg Christian Reformed Church Ladies Bible Study

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I had a lot of fun speaking at the Tillsonburg CRC Ladies Bible Study kick-off dessert social and they even gave me flowers. How cool is that?

Friday, October 15, 2010

Hamilton’s Next Mayor—Our Servant, Our Choice!

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Along with a few others, I have been praying at mayoral debates across the City of Hamilton.

The purpose is to pray throughout the debates for truth, righteousness and justice to prevail in our city.

Personally, I want a mayor who wants the best for our city, someone with a heart for this city—a servant—someone who is not full of himself, but does know what he is doing.

The King’s heart is in the hand of the Lord; he directs it like a watercourse wherever he pleases. All a man’s ways seem right to him, but the Lord weighs the heart. Proverbs 21:1-2 NIV

Let’s give the Lord a humble heart to work with.

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Thursday, October 14, 2010

Thanksgiving at Dundas Peak

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Lots of colour, distant thunder, a slight drizzle and a taste of Korea.

Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Thanksgiving Salad

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Avocado, pear, cranberry, walnut on spinach with vinaigrette…

Thanks Rachel. 

Friday, October 1, 2010

7 Random Household Questions

Why?

1)  Why do I discover one of my two decent hand towels in my husbands greasy cloth bin in the garage when there are two dozen older rattier ones under the bathroom sink?

2)  Why don’t the toothbrushes fit in the toothbrush holder?

3)  Why is my daughter out of shampoo when there are 15 bottles at various levels for full in the girl’s bathroom?

4)  Why hasn’t anyone invented a self-cleaning sink?

5)  Why do the makers of Wii Fit assume I appreciate a balance board that nags about my weight, my family and life in general?

6)  Why do my geraniums do so well?

7)  Why aren’t geraniums my favourite plant?