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posted by Michael on 07/1/08

There have been so many things going on here at the Staddon house that it has been impossible for me to get anything posted for a while. It seems too bad because those things would make great blog posts. We’ve been splitting bee hives, planting trees, harvesting honey, chipping branches, and all kinds of other interesting projects. I even had my first try at welding. It has been a lot of hard, sweat-dripping work. But what deserves a blog post the most is what our family read in Psalm 118 this morning, especially verses 19 through 23:

Verses 19-20: “Open to me the gates of righteousness: I will go into them, and will praise the Lord: this gate of the Lord into which the righteous shall enter.” Question:Who is “the door of the sheep” through which they enter into the fold?

Verse 21: “I will praise Thee: for Thou has heard me, and art become my Salvation.” Question: Who is our Salvation?

Verses 22-23: “The stone which the builders refused is become the head stone of the corner. This is the Lord’s doing; it is marvelous in our eyes.” Question: Who is the Head that the builders rejected?

Verse 24: “This is the day that the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.” Key question: What is “this” Day that the Lord has made?

Read the verses again. Verse 24 is just a continuation of the other verses. The gate, the salvation, and the stone are speaking of Christ. The Day in verse 24 is not ultimately speaking of any 12-hour or 24-hour period! This is speaking of Christ, the Eternal Day in which I will rejoice, beginning the moment that I made peace with God through the sacrifice of His Son. “He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life” 1 Jn. 5:12. The water Christ gives is a well of water springing up unto everlasting life (Jn. 4:14). “For God, Who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” 2 Cor. 4:6. “The Lord is my light and my salvation” Ps. 27:1, “a light to lighten the gentiles” Luke 2:32, Is. 9:2, and Is. 49:6. According to Hebrews 4:8-10 this eternal day that lives within me is the Sabbath, the Day of rest. “Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” Mt. 11:28. My temporal body may work and sweat, but how glorious it is to abide in the Rest of Jesus Christ forever! Woe to me if I attempt the labor of iniquity on this Day! Question: “And to whom sware He that they should not enter into His rest, but to them that believed not? So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief. Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into His rest, any of you should seem to come short of it. For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not  profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it. For we which have believed do enter into rest” Heb. 3:18 – 4:3a.

4 Comments » | posted in Politics, Recipes, The Bright Side, Tidbits

posted by Mom on 02/12/08

Grandma Brown introduced us to vegetable pizza a few years back but it was not until recently that I began making it myself by “staddonizing” the recipe.

The first thing I changed was the crust — we like “the real thing” rather than Pillsbury cresent rolls.

The second thing that was more to our liking was replacing the Ranch flavor powder style dressing or dip mix with our own spices and some sour cream or plain yogurt. Tastefully Simple has a very good all natural Fiesta Party dip Mix which makes a very good replacement.

We bake 5 loaves of bread once or twice a week so when we need a pizza crust we just make the crust instead of the loaves of bread: One loaf makes two crusts. After baking it about 6 minutes, the 12″ crusts freeze very nicely in a two gallon plastic zip-lock bag.

Also the vegetables can be cut up ahead of time and kept for as long as a week if covered with water which is changed every day.

Bake one pizza crust and cool
Mix: 1 T. Fiesta Party Dip,
          ¼ c. mayonnaise (real mayonnaise only), and
          ¾ c. sour cream or plain yogurt
Spread on cooled crust
Cut into small pieces:
          Cauliflower
          Broccoli
          Carrots
          Olives
          Celery
          Red/green/yellow peppers
          Whatever raw vegetables preferred (yellow squash, etc)
Top crust with vegetables
Chill well and serve

Enjoy!
 
 

2 Comments » | posted in Recipes

posted by Mom on 11/29/07

Yesterday I decided to take the time to search my cookbooks for the perfect recipe for the cranberries I had bought before thanksgiving that were still in the refrigerator.

My desire was to please everyone! Everyone being the seven that are under our roof at this time; some of whom say cranberries are not good unless you sweeten them a lot as well as those who say too much sugar is bad for you.

Most of the recipes called for at least 1 1/2 cups of sugar for the 2 cups of cranberries; but one used only 1/2 c. of brown sugar. Finally by combining two recipes I came up with the following:

                Cranberry Casserole

• 3 - 4 cups chopped unpeeled apples
• 2 cups cranberries
• 6 oz apple juice concentrate
• 1 T. flour
• 1/2 stick butter (1/4 cup)
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup quick or rolled oats
• 1/2 cup chopped nuts

Place apples and cranberries in 2-quart baking dish with flour and juice concentrate. Melt butter and brown sugar; add oats and nuts. Sprinkle this mixture over apples and cranberries. Bake uncovered, 45 min. at 325 degrees.

We ate it with our meal as a side dish but it would also work for a dessert. These were the comments:

1. Usually I’m tempted to eat dessert too fast but this recipe was good because the slight tartness slowed me down.
2. Can we have seconds?
3. I like the topping (meaning the oats and brown sugar) the best. Less cranberries would be better.
4. I normally don’t like cranberries, but the apples offset their tartness enough to be a very pleasing taste that I enjoyed.

The list of health benefits from cranberries are incredible. Click here for more specifics and be motivated to try this winning recipe!

7 Comments » | posted in Recipes

posted by Jonathan on 08/26/07

Every Friday we have pancakes. To vary the routine we have tried all sorts of different flavors and shapes for speciel occasions. This week we got a phone call from some friends that Michael works for. They told us they had some bananas for us. So we went to pick them up. They had a big box of them! We didn’t know what we would do with them all so we dicided to make banana pancakes! We really enjoyed these with butter and peanut butter and mapple syrup. This is the recipe. Enjoy!

Combine in blender:

1 1/2 c. water

7/8 c. wheat

1 teaspoon flax seed

1/2 Tablespoon cinnamon

Turn blender an high and chop in 1 banana. Allow blender to run for 2 minutes.

Add:

1 egg

2 Tablespoons oil

1/2 teaspoon salt

Turn blender on for 1 minute, Add 1 Tablespoon Baking Powder while blender is on.

To make the batter thin enough to mix in the baking powder, you may need ot add a little water before hand.

For another great banana recipe click here.

5 Comments » | posted in Recipes

posted by Donald on 06/21/07

Did you ever wish you could make breakfast in the crock pot too?

Well believe it or not you can and this recipe is one that has not only met all our own criteria but has become a staple on our weekly menu year-round.

2 c. wheat berries (whole kernels, raw)
7 c. water (pure water if possible)
a sprinkle of salt

Cook on low overnight and serve hot. Wheatberries will be soft but not mushy. It makes enough for up to twelve bowls and is best with home-made granola, raisins and fresh bananas. Some have it with milk & brown sugar as they would any other hot cereal and leftover wheatberries are good on pancakes.

So that’s our “secret recipe”. We’ve found that few have heard of a crock pot breakfast but maybe once you’ve tried it you will pass the word yourself. Here in West Virginia we know that a hearty healthy breakfast is one thing that can put you up the hill!

“Give us this day our daily bread . . .”

4 Comments » | posted in Recipes