More (big) Shots and Bittersweet Goodbyes

Just waiting for Thursday and the shots-never thought I'd be looking forward to something like that!  God certainly is working on building my patience!

Tonight is my last church council meeting.  I am done being a deacon for at least a year.  We serve three year terms and I can't believe that three years have already gone by!  Tonight we will attend the first half of the meeting-a kind of changing of the guard, so to speak, we will break for treats that the outgoing officers provide, and then we shake hands and leave.  I have mixed feelings about the end of my term.  I loved serving-most of the time I was the only woman on the board, but the relationships we established and the work we did was incredibly rewarding.  I love that I am forever ordained as a deacon.  The two that replace Bill and me will have to be ordained too-I am so excited about watching that.  We lay hands on them and pray for God's blessings.  They will then sign the form of conscription that says that they are now deacons.

The process we use is very Biblical, I think.  Members of the congregation suggest names of people that would be suitable, the council goes through the names and sends letters to the candidates.  The candidates then either agree or turn it down, then the names are published in the bulletin for two weeks.  On the first Sunday of January, the names are sealed in envelopes, and the outgoing officers each select one.  I am thrilled that one of the new deacons is a woman-Kara, the lady that married the missionary.  They are back in the area for a few years to receive training, so we get to reap the bounty of her experience.  It's also a great training ground for her-it surely was for me.  The second one is the one I selected.  As I reached out to pick an envelope, I said a quick prayer for God to direct me.  My hand immediately moved to the envelope on the end-very cool and very profound!  The name I selected was definitely God's doing.  This man has struggled for years with a bi-polar disorder and has made great strides.  I just think it was a way for God to tell us that HE picks His servants, not us.  I see great things happening in our church because we are obedient to God's direction!

Well, I'd better get moving.  I hope the copier repairman calls soon so I can meet him at the church.  Not good when it goes on the fritz!  And I have to assemble my part of the treats for tonight.  We are having a sundae bar and I am bringing homemade caramel sauce and hot fudge sauce.  The hot fudge is so easy, just bring 3/4 cup heavy cream to a boil, take off the heat, dump in 1 1/3 cups chocolate chips, let stand 5 minutes and whisk til smooth.  This is a basic ganache.  When you want to heat it, just put in a bit of cream-maybe 1 tablespoon, and warm in the microwave.  Best hot fudge ever, and no corn syrup!

What I'm Up To

Let's see-the weekend was full.  Friday night Stan, Syd and I went to the Belgrade Festival of Lights just to watch the floating luminaries.  Syd even got to send one off!  I made a video, but my Sony camera saves it in a format that Facebook and Blogger don't recognize so I have to wait til Millie sends me the conversion program before I can post it.  Hope it works, it was breathtaking!  Saturday Millie picked me up and we took the two 7-year-olds to the Nutcracker.  Very, very good-great dancers and they had the Bozeman Symphony play.  It was a bit sad-the founder of the Montana Ballet Company passed away just a week ago.  She had sold the company a couple of years ago, but her mark was still on everything.  We sat on the aisle so I could get up and walk if I needed to-and I did!  Then to the Community Co-op for lunch.  Then home.  I had kind of an accident-I spaced it out as I went down the stairs and took the last step with my left foot instead of my right.  I wasn't injured and I didn't fall, but that hurt like holy h**l!  I laid my head on the bannister and sobbed.  It's fine now, and I think it even bends a bit more.  I had asked Stan to build me a short practice step, and after that he went right out to the garage and built it!

Sunday was church and our Advent supper.  I love that we get into the season so much now.  We even have three lit-up Christmas trees on the platform.  And we always light the Advent Candle.  I stayed home last night while Stan went to the Bible class.  Any excuse to be alone-something I don't get much of right now.  A lot of fun-I watched TV with my eyes closed!

This morning I made macaroons.  They are delicious-ever as good as what you get in Mazatlan.  Dulce de Coco is a regional specialty there.  The only thing-the recipe calls for parchment and all I had was wax paper.  I will NEVER make that mistake again!  The cookies were glued to the paper!  By the time I discovered it I had two pans baked, so on the last pan, I liberally applied no stick spray and took the cookies off the paper.  That worked much better!  I dampened the back of the wax paper, waited a while, and then peeled it off the stuck cookies. I have to remember to make a big note on the recipe.

Well, off to stretch out a bit and head to physical therapy.  I hope I can be at 100 degrees today, since Wednesday I was at 95.

Got Me Some Peaches!

As I was leaving town yesterday, I noticed a fruit stand at the gas station.  I called Stan and told him.  He went right up and bought a case of Washington peaches.  When he got home with them, he promptly devoured two.  When I got home from work, I made peach cobbler, and today sometime I will probably do some freezer jam.  I used this recipe from my cooking blog.  I pretty much made it the same way, except I used less water since peaches have enough juice, and I used a mixture of sorghum, tapioca and potato starch for the flour.  After he gets the applesauce (from our own tree) going, Stan will process 7 quarts of peaches just for eating this winter.  The cobbler was so good, I had to have some for breakfast!

Just look at that ice cream melting into the sweet peaches!

Just looking at the pictures makes me want to go back for more!

Ode to Yogurt Containers, Dutch Tupperware and Last Year's Strawberries

Our strawberry patch has yielded quite well this year, so I got out what was left from last year in the freezer and made freezer jam. First, I am so unhappy that they don't put yogurt in reusable containers anymore. I saved every one of those handy little guys and still use them. They get washed and stored for the next project. That's where the term "Dutch Tupperware" comes from. My husband is Dutch and we live near a large Dutch settlement. Dutch people are known to be frugal, and tend to save all the yogurt containers, whipped topping tubs and margarine cartons they get. Hence the term, "Dutch Tupperware." I'm not Dutch but I am frugal and it makes sense to me to keep these containers and use them. Besides, that means less plastic in the landfill.


The pectin instructions said I'd get 5 cups, but I can put 6 in the freezer.


With just enough for samples!


Love my label maker.

Cheesecake-Oh My!

I made this gluten/wheat/rice/corn/etc. free cheesecake tonight. Dang, it was good! Sorry I didn't take pictures but we've already cut into it.

My Allergy Free Cheesecake

3 8oz pkgs softened cream cheese
1/2 C coconut flour
1 C sugar
1 tsp vanilla
3 eggs

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a 9 inch springform pan with cooking spray. Line bottom with wax paper or parchment. Beat cream cheese, add sugar and coconut flour. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Spread in pan and bake for 50 minutes. Let cool a bit, then run a knife around edge to loosen and remove sides of pan. Cool completely. We had ours with a splash of Torani Raspberry syrup. Not too heavy, not too "fluffy."