Snowballs

It's recipe week here at Living Day By Day In God's Grace. Rather appropriate since I started my Christmas baking this week. Over the next few weeks I'll be sharing some simple recipes for sweet Christmas treats. I thought I'd start out with one that brings back memories from my childhood.


Snowballs were always fun to make as a kid because I could take a meal time staple that I wasn't particularly fond of...a potato...and turn it into a sweet, chocolaty candy treat. A little weird, I know but easy to do!


I have a vivid teenage memory of formulating a plan to snag one (or more) of these out of the cupboard while my mom was out the room. I went into stealth mode. Silently I carried the chair over to the fridge, balanced precariously on it and extended my reach with the help of a ruler. I patiently maneuvered the snowball container closer to the edge of the shelf and finally met with success as I was able to tip it over the edge and catch it with my free hand.


The taste of dark chocolate was mine. My mouth watered. I pulled off the lid and let out a shriek of alarm! Mom came running in to find me staring in dismay into the depths of the container. The entire contents was overtaken by a furry blue and black mass of mold!  Eeewwww! So much for stealth mode!


I speak from experience when I tell you to store these in the fridge!

SNOWBALLS


Potato
Vanilla
Icing sugar
Semi sweet baker's chocolate
Coconut and/or sprinkles and/or chopped nuts


Boil one medium potato and mash it - don't add milk or butter - just mash the potato
Use a mixer to beat in 1 cup icing sugar
Add 2 tsp. vanilla
Beat in enough icing sugar (1/2 cup at a time) to make a soft dough
Roll a bit of dough between your palms to shape into balls and place these on wax paper.
Let them set for two or three hours.
Melt semi sweet baker's chocolate.
Place rolled snowball on fork held over the chocolate pot.
Spoon chocolate over snowball, then use a knife to slide the snowball onto the waxed paper.
Sprinkle with the topping of your choice.


Hints and tips:
I used a potato that was about 3 1/2 inches (9 cm) long and 3 inches (7.5) cm wide
It took 5 1/4 cups of icing sugar to work up the soft dough
I used 8 squares of chocolate
I got 62 snowballs from this mixture


I hope to do further experimentation later in the week with cherry flavoured fillings and mint flavoured fillings and will post updates on how these work out.


Post your Christmas childhood memories by clicking "comments" below.

Avoid Life - Be Busy

A few weeks ago I shared some of my thoughts on busyness. It prevents us from spending time with God, breaks down our relationships and hinders our spiritual growth.

If we know this is a side effect of leading hectic lives, why do we do it? Why can’t we say no? Why do we schedule every minute of our work week and every minute of our weekend so we hardly have time to eat, sleep and breathe, let alone rest, relax and rejuvenate?

Busyness becomes an excuse. We use it as an avoidance tactic. We hide behind busyness so we don’t have to face truth or circumstances in our lives that make us uncomfortable. Perhaps as a short term coping mechanism busyness is effective. But if it’s used on a long term basis it becomes damaging.

If we’re too busy we don’t give ourselves time we need to reflect on problems in our lives. We don’t have time to address outstanding issues and to heal our emotional or psychological wounds.

I think women are masters at using busyness as a tool.  Here are a few examples you might recognize:

• After a separation a women intentionally schedules all her free time so she doesn’t have to think about her broken relationship.
• A single woman pours herself into work and fitness so she doesn’t feel the empty, loneliness of the house around her.
• Someone else spends evenings and weekends with friends and takes night courses to avoid giving in to self-damaging behaviour when she’s home by herself.
• A single mom becomes a “super volunteer” with parent/teacher associations and school functions to fill the void of losing her husband.
• When her youngest child moves out of the house a mother spends all her free time volunteering for the church so she doesn’t hear the silence of the “empty nest”.

This fall I had an unusually busy travel schedule for work. While I didn’t intentionally plan it, the busyness allowed me to avoid thinking about my step-mother’s breast cancer diagnosis.  As long as work consumed my time I didn’t think about the inevitable chemotherapy treatments. I lost my mother to cancer when I was fifteen and I remember how the chemo affected her.  The thought of my step-mother going through that absolutely horrified me.

Sooner or later we all have to slow down and deal with reality. It’s not healthy to stay too busy. It’s not healthy to run away or pretend our problems don’t exist. The only way to deal with them is to face them, admit we have no control over the situation and ask for help if we need it.

Sometimes this means getting professional coaching or counseling. It could be as simple as taking some quiet time to work things through in your own mind. Perhaps it’s something we haven’t taken to God in prayer. We need to pour out our worries to Him and spend time in silent reflection listening to the Holy Spirit whispering to us while we feel God’s peace wrap around us, soothing and warm as an electric blanket.

None of these things are possible if we persist as hamsters on the wheel of life. Are you busy today because you’re avoiding a circumstance in your life? Do you need to make time in your schedule for quiet reflection? Is it time to take steps to resolve the problem once and for all? Don’t wait any longer, start today.

Share your thoughts by clicking on "comments" below.

Remembering

What does Remembrance Day mean to you? For me it’s a time of reflection, of struggling to understand the world’s history of war and conflict, of grappling to reconcile the loss of life going on every day with the peaceful, free world I step into every morning.

How do you remember? How do we remember and honour a life changing event that started 97 years ago; a time when most of us weren’t even alive?

I’ll be honest. I wrestle with the idea of war. I’m the stereotypical “Pollyanna”. If “why can’t we all just get along” was a motto it would be airbrushed in bold Arial font on my forehead! I hate conflict. I don’t understand war. And I hate the thought of people dying in the cold dark night, alone in knee deep mud with the sounds of heavy artillery booming next to them while bombs fall like rain from the sky!

On the other hand I’m deeply grateful to live in Canada.

Canada - a country where our children can play in the streets free from the threat of suicide bombers.

Canada - a country that is ruled by democracy and freedom of speech.

Canada - a country that doesn’t live under the regime of threats, terror and tyranny.

Canada – a country with religious and cultural freedom.

Would this Canada be possible today without the battles that took place in World War I and World War II and the ongoing battles in the Middle East? Can those of us who enjoy our freedom simply sit back and declare the loss of life justifiable? Or do we live with an inner tension, the dissonance of knowledge; the knowledge that our country is free today because other people gave their lives for that freedom?

Recently I’ve been listening to a summary of the life of Sir Winston Churchill. Here was a man who lived to see both World Wars and played a very active leadership role in each. Churchill understood the danger of apathy. His set of moral values simply would not allow him to stand back and watch while citizens in other countries lived under the grips of tyranny. He understood tyranny is about power and needs to be stopped. For this understanding he was quite frequently labeled a “war monger” – someone who loved war, but in fact Churchill seemed to viscerally grasp the fact that if tyranny isn’t stopped all of humanity suffers.

So we live in freedom and war rages on; struggles and conflicts within ourselves and battles in countries an ocean away. Freedom is not to be taken lightly. It comes at a high price – the lives of our brave men and women, the peace of mind of their families, the minds of the soldiers who return doomed to wrestle with nightmares and post traumatic stress for the rest of their lives.

These men and women believe freedom is worth the price. Let’s not take their sacrifices for granted.

Lest We Forget

Visit Terry Kelly’s Youtube link, “A Pittance of Time”  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2kX_3y3u5Uo

Pumpkin Cookies With Brown Sugar Candy Icing

Scott's Parable Christian Bookstore in Red Deer makes the BEST pumpkin cookies with brown sugar, caramel icing on them. It's a perfect rest stop during the drive back and forth between Edmonton and Calgary. A drive I've been doing about once a month. 


Red Deer lies smack dab at the half way point of the 3 1/2 hour drive. As you walk in you're greeted by the spicy aroma of freshly made cookies drifting suggestively from the small cafe in the back of the store. It's really hard to resist the temptation of a cookie (or two) and a cup of tea for the remainder of the drive.

After many samples (strictly for scientific taste analysis) I decided these tasty sensations should be reproducible in my own kitchen. The recipes that follow are the result of my Sunday afternoon experiment.

PUMPKIN COOKIES

1/2 cup butter

1 1/4 cups packed brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
1 cup mashed pumpkin (just the pumpkin puree, not the pie filling)
2 cups flour
4 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1/4 tsp. cloves
1/4 tsp. ginger
1 cup chopped pecans

Cream butter and sugar together and beat in eggs. Mix in vanilla and pumpkin. Add the rest of the dry ingredients including the nuts and mix together well. Grease a cookie sheet and drop the dough by tablespoons onto the pan. Bake at 375 degrees F for 15 minutes, or until lightly browned.

Once these are cooled mix up the icing. (Do not make the icing ahead of time as it hardens quickly)

BROWN SUGAR CANDY ICING
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup milk
1/4 tsp. salt
1/3 cup butter
Mix these ingredients in a pot on the stove and bring to a bubbling boil. Stir constantly and boil for 2 1/2 minutes. Remove from stove, add 1 tsp. vanilla and 1 cup icing sugar. The icing will be runny at this point - this is normal.

Beat with a hand mixer until icing takes on a thicker spreading consistency (it will take a while, keep beating it). You can either dip the cookies into the icing or use a spoon to ice them. If the icing thickens too quickly add a little cream to it to thin it out again.

Hint: This icing is good as a caramel fudge, too. Double the recipe and pour the remainder into small pan. Cut into squares and...YUM!

Busy

Busy. Does that word sum up your life? Could you add descriptors like chaotic, crazy, out of control, over the top, hectic, frantic, or demanding and come up with an even more appropriate description?

I can relate. In the last six weeks I’ve driven over 10,000 km for work, been home 15 ½ days (including weekends) and travelled around three provinces. The mileage is actually a new record for me in my work travels. Sadly setting this record wasn’t exactly on my bucket list! (For those of you not familiar with the movie “The Bucket List” you can watch the movie trailer here http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0825232/)

I’m writing this while away over the weekend, knowing I’ll get home Monday night only to turn around and head for Winnipeg on Wednesday afternoon. To be perfectly honest the mere thought of leaving after only two nights at home dismays, disgusts and horrifies me to the point of gagging...literally...GAK! But, it has to be done so I’ll go.

My travel schedule isn’t usually quite this hectic and if I’m honest with myself (something I don’t always like to be) I have to admit it’s starting to take its toll. The dark cloud of anxiety lurks around the corner like a serial killer.  Mind numbing panic hunts me like a wolf stalks its prey. I know I need to slow down, allow myself time to relax and enjoy life. I’ve been down this road before and the only place it leads is the dead end street of stress-induced asthma and the plunge over a cliff into heart palpitation canyon!

I wonder if Martha ever experienced anxiety or panic attacks from her busyness. I can so empathize with her.  Scripture says

“As Jesus and the disciples continued on their way to Jerusalem, they came to a certain village where a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home. Her sister, Mary, sat at the Lord’s feet, listening to what he taught. But Martha was distracted by the big dinner she was preparing. She came to Jesus and said, “Lord, doesn’t it seem unfair to you that my sister just sits here while I do all the work? Tell her to come and help me. But the Lord said to her, “My dear Martha, you are worried and upset over all these details! There is only one thing worth being concerned about. Mary has discovered it, and it will not be taken away from her.”  Luke 10:38-42

I feel for Martha. She probably spent a week before Jesus' arrival dusting, vacuuming and straightening up the house. She polished the silverware, washed the fine china and set out the crystal. She’s been up since dawn prepping, cooking, and baking. Succulent, mouth-watering aromas waft out behind her when she stomps out of the kitchen, determined to point out to Jesus just how lazy her sister is. Martha is feeling very self-righteous, she’s doing all the work and she wants everyone to know it, dammit!

I’m Martha. And while I hate to admit it, Mary was onto something. In all her busyness, Martha misses Jesus. Mary gets it. She understands if we’re too wrapped up in our lives we miss spending time in the very presence of our Lord. Missing out on God’s presence is the price we pay for our busy lives. Yes there are other costs – health and relationship problems, stress, depression, and anxiety – they’re all the cost of being too busy. But when the busyness of life gets in the way of our time with God then life is TOO busy! We’ve got our priorities wrong! It’s time to re-evaluate.

Where are you today? Are you too busy to spend time with God? Share your thoughts below by clicking “comments”.

Living In The "In Between"

Do you feel out of synch with life? Not sure which way is up or which way is down? Have an uncomfortable feeling of not quite fitting in? Living in the “in between” stage of transition?

I lived in Calgary for seven years. I quite enjoyed living there, had great friends and a wonderful church community. I loved the beauty of the skyline –sparkling, glowing lights from the downtown area filling the night sky – and the breath taking view of the awe inspiring Rocky Mountains jutting up on the western horizon. Over the years the city became home, its threads woven into the fabric of my life; a part of me.

When I got married in June 2010 I knew I'd be leaving the city to start a new life with my husband in Stony Plain, a community just outside Edmonton three and a half hours away. He and his children lived there and our priority was to remain close to them. As is often the case, logistics interfered with life plans and I didn’t end up moving to Stony Plain until March of this year.

I travel for work and since I’ve moved I’ve experienced an odd sense of displacement. I get to the airport at the end of the week and check the departure monitor for my flight. I wonder why the flight time on the monitor differs from the one on my itinerary and am suddenly struck by the realization I’m automatically looking at Calgary flights instead of Edmonton flights. When I’m driving familiar routes through Saskatchewan I automatically point the car in the direction of Calgary, but quickly realize I need to head north to Edmonton, not west to Calgary.

This week as I drove into Calgary for work I experienced that “out of synch” feeling again. The city felt like home. After seven years of coming back to this city I was programmed to experience the feeling of being home when I got to the city limits. But another part of my brain quickly kicked in telling me this wasn’t home; my home was the house I share with my husband in Stony Plain. It was a strange sense of being pulled in two – the city of Calgary feels like home but I don’t have a home here. Our house in Stony Plain feels like home but the community around it doesn’t.

It’s an “in between” stage in the transition where old habits and feelings are weakening but new habits and connections haven’t been established yet. This odd sense of displacement is experienced in moves, in job changes and in other transitions in life where circumstances have changed but the mind hasn’t quite grasped the reality of the situation yet.

It takes time to adapt to change. I’m pleased that our house now feels like home and I hope one day when I reach the town limits of Stony Plain it too will feel as though I’ve come home.

Are you living in the “in between” stage of transition? Share your thoughts by clicking “comments” below.

Thanks on Thanksgiving

It’s Thanksgiving weekend here in Canada. I’m overcome with a wonderful sense of lethargy as I revel in a turkey and pumpkin pie induced coma. I’ve overindulged this evening to the point of actual physical pain for a few hours after dinner. Everything was just so good!

Perhaps it’s because I’ve been eating restaurant food for the last three weeks while I travelled for work. Or perhaps it’s simply because I can think of very few foods I enjoy more than turkey. Whatever the case, I shamelessly filled my plate and then against my better judgment filled it again. As if that wasn’t enough I crammed in a monster piece of pumpkin pie smothered in whipped cream, followed by Earl Grey tea to wash it all down.

I know there’s more to Thanksgiving than just appreciating the finer things in life (like turkey) and there are so many things I'm thankful for this weekend.

1.       I’m thankful for finally coming home after three long hard weeks of being on the road, driving over 5000 km and living in hotel rooms and eating restaurant food.

2.      But, I'm thankful to have a job that enables me to have a home to come back to and one that will pay for my hotels and food when I travel away from home.

3.       I’m thankful for time this weekend with my husband to just enjoy being a couple. To take the time to finally hang pictures after being in the house for six months so it actually feels like a home.

4.       I’m thankful for the privilege of attending worship this weekend without fear or threats to my life; for the ability to sing praise and worship songs to God, to physically bask in His presence and feel His joy because I'm His child and He loves me regardless of all the mistakes I’ve made and all the mistakes I’m sure I will still make.

5.       I’m thankful to have a husband who understands, honours, and shares my faith.

6.       I’m thankful to have a husband who loves and honours me for the person I am, not the person I think he wants me to be.

7.       I’m thankful for the means to buy the food to serve family and friends a Thanksgiving dinner and for the day spent in the kitchen preparing, baking, cooking and cleaning.

8.       I’m thankful for each bite of food with its plethora of unique flavours – for the succulent turkey mixed with tart cranberry sauce, for sour pickles, for sweet and buttery yams, for crunchy potato casserole, for creamy meaty gravy, for spicy, savory stuffing, for the slightly acidic taste of asparagus and the exquisite explosion of wine on my taste buds as it washes it all down.

9.       I’m thankful for Gavison to calm the pain of overindulgence :)

10.   I’m thankful for the wonderful fall palate of oranges, reds, yellows and browns adorning the trees. And for the satisfying crunch of leaves under my feet that makes me laugh again like a carefree child.

11.   I’m thankful for a safe, warm, comfortable place to sleep.

12.   I’m thankful for the ability to read and write and for the courage God has given me to reach out and share my stories with those around me. I’m excited about the future and what He has in store for me and my family.

There are so many more things I could share, but I think you get the idea. I know I sometimes I complain and whine and go through life not appreciating opportunities that are mine each day. But in my heart I know and understand that I am truly blessed.

Happy Thanksgiving to all.

What are you thankful for? Respond by clicking on “comments” below.