I have a serious, passionate love for my crockpots. Yes, I have several. I love to cook but also love to have some nights off from working in the kitchen. This soup is perfect for that. This recipe is also perfect for people that work away from home all day because unlike many crockpot recipes, it can sit in the crockpot for 8-10 hours and only gets better. This is a perfect recipe for summer tomatoes coming in because it uses so many fresh tomatoes. You will never eat another tomato soup again.
3lbs vine ripened tomatoes
1 medium onion, chopped
2 Cups tomato juice
1 Cup cooking sherry
3 Tbsp white sugar
1 chicken bouillon cube
Chopped fresh basil, as much as you like...I like a lot.
3 cloves of chopped fresh garlic
Salt and Pepper to taste
2 cups of heavy cream for serving
Wash and quarter the tomatoes and add all ingredients to crockpot! Yup that is it. Cook it on low for 8 hours, or however long you like. At the end of the cooking time scoop out the large chunks with some sort of straining spoon and blend them in a food processor or blender. Add it back in and add in the cream before serving.
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Friday, September 28, 2012
My World of Make Believe
In my world of make believe I like to pretend many things but my most favorite thing to imagine is that some day I will travel again. I used to travel a lot before I had children and settled in for the long haul. I love to travel, in fact there almost nothing I love more! Since having children I haven't left the state, that is a lot of years of no travel for this lady. I say that I am pretending I will travel again because more than likely I won't be able to ever afford to leave a 200 mile radius of my current home. But lets not dwell on reality, it's a downer.
Recently my sister told me about a family that had the goal of visiting every state park in our state before their oldest graduated. My sisters family has decided they want to try and visit 48 states before their oldest graduates. I have decided to come up with my own dream vacation list. I am making them as realistic as possible in the hopes that we may actually get to a few of these places. My oldest is now 6 so that gives us 12 year to get all these trips knocked out!
1) Duluth and the north shore of MN. We love this area and have spent a lot of time there in the past, can't wait to experience it again with my children.
2) Wisconsin Dells. This one will be water park mayhem but the kids will love it and I will be thrilled to leave the state again if only to prove it is still possible.
3) The Black Hills. I did this one as a teenager and it is a great place for camping restlessly while you worry you will be trampled by buffalo that roam about.
4) New Orleans and Galveston. I haven't ever been to either place and it is a cryin' shame I tell ya!
5) Chicago. Museums, traffic, Lake Michigan and deep dish pizza.
6) Niagara Falls, Boston, New York state, Pennsylvania and all that jazz.
7) The Apostle Islands. Haven't been there but heard they are fabulous.
8) Nashville, Atlanta and South Carolina. Love Nashville. I have been to Atlanta and South Carolina and there was nothing all that memoriable in either one but I figure they deserve a second chance, mostly because they are about 60 degrees warmer then this state in the winter.
9) Florida, minus the money sucking, long lined nightmare that is Disney.
10) Yellowstone. It is an American tradition.
11) Seattle. We can stare at all the hippies while drinking coffee.
12) Forestville and Southeastern corner of MN. A lovely corner, especially in the fall.
13) Itasca State Park. For frolicking in the headwaters of the Mississippi.
14) Puerto Rico. I have been there but it is worth a second trip.
So there it is. A goal of 14 trips to get done in 12 years. This is by no means everywhere I would love to visit but these are the ones my kids should probably see before leaving the nest and that won't require passports or expensive air fare. You will notice a glaring hole in the Southwest of the United States. You may wonder if I have something against this beautiful area of our country and the answer is yes, yes I do. I have absolutely no desire to go there. Seriously. Not sure why and I don't have a single reason. So if we happen to get to it, the Grand Canyon would be grand but it isn't at the top of my list.
Recently my sister told me about a family that had the goal of visiting every state park in our state before their oldest graduated. My sisters family has decided they want to try and visit 48 states before their oldest graduates. I have decided to come up with my own dream vacation list. I am making them as realistic as possible in the hopes that we may actually get to a few of these places. My oldest is now 6 so that gives us 12 year to get all these trips knocked out!
1) Duluth and the north shore of MN. We love this area and have spent a lot of time there in the past, can't wait to experience it again with my children.
2) Wisconsin Dells. This one will be water park mayhem but the kids will love it and I will be thrilled to leave the state again if only to prove it is still possible.
3) The Black Hills. I did this one as a teenager and it is a great place for camping restlessly while you worry you will be trampled by buffalo that roam about.
4) New Orleans and Galveston. I haven't ever been to either place and it is a cryin' shame I tell ya!
5) Chicago. Museums, traffic, Lake Michigan and deep dish pizza.
6) Niagara Falls, Boston, New York state, Pennsylvania and all that jazz.
7) The Apostle Islands. Haven't been there but heard they are fabulous.
8) Nashville, Atlanta and South Carolina. Love Nashville. I have been to Atlanta and South Carolina and there was nothing all that memoriable in either one but I figure they deserve a second chance, mostly because they are about 60 degrees warmer then this state in the winter.
9) Florida, minus the money sucking, long lined nightmare that is Disney.
10) Yellowstone. It is an American tradition.
11) Seattle. We can stare at all the hippies while drinking coffee.
12) Forestville and Southeastern corner of MN. A lovely corner, especially in the fall.
13) Itasca State Park. For frolicking in the headwaters of the Mississippi.
14) Puerto Rico. I have been there but it is worth a second trip.
So there it is. A goal of 14 trips to get done in 12 years. This is by no means everywhere I would love to visit but these are the ones my kids should probably see before leaving the nest and that won't require passports or expensive air fare. You will notice a glaring hole in the Southwest of the United States. You may wonder if I have something against this beautiful area of our country and the answer is yes, yes I do. I have absolutely no desire to go there. Seriously. Not sure why and I don't have a single reason. So if we happen to get to it, the Grand Canyon would be grand but it isn't at the top of my list.
Thursday, September 27, 2012
Girl Time
We are coming up on my favorite time of year. A time I look forward to from the moment it is over until it arrives a full year later. It isn't an official holiday or season. It isn't my massive annual payout from my trustfund, though it might move to the top of my favorite lists if I had one. It is girls weekend. Every year for the past 6 years I have gone away one weekend in the fall with some friends from college and it is spectacular. We window shop and talk until we drop. We follow that by coffee and talking. Then dinner and more talking. Then back to our hotel to stay up late and talk. Then a nice long walk around a lake somewhere and more talking. We can talk and never run out of things to discuss! I am blessed with many amazing friends in my life but this particular uninterupted weekend of relaxation and connecting is really the best time of the year.
Tuesday, September 25, 2012
Easy Cheese Danish
This recipe is amazing and easy, sadly it is not also healthy. I don't make it very often but I do like to surprise my little tater tots with it every so often when they need a little something sweet. I got the recipe from The Country Cooks blog and I am very thankful!
Ingredients:
For the danishes:
2 tubes Crescent Rolls
1 (8 oz.) package cream cheese (softened)
¼ cup granulated white sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 tbsp. butter (melted)
8 tbsp. light brown sugar
Glaze:
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
4 tsp. milk
Preheat oven to 350. In a medium bowl combine cream cheese with white sugar and vanilla. Mix until creamy and smooth. Separate the two cans of dough into 8 rectangles, sealing the seams of 2 triangles to make the rectangles. Spoon melted butter and brown sugar onto each rectangle. Roll each rectangle into a long skinny snake of dough. Then coil the snake making it into a circle. Squish the dough down in the middle making a little space for the cream cheese filling. Put a couple tablespoons of cream cheese filling into the center of each dough ball. Place then on a greased baking sheet and bake for 15-18 minutes. Mix up the glaze while the danishes are cooking and drizzle it over warm danishes when they come out of the oven.
I did make these last time without the glaze and I must say they are much better with it so take the time for that last extra step of scrumptiousness.
Ingredients:
For the danishes:
2 tubes Crescent Rolls
1 (8 oz.) package cream cheese (softened)
¼ cup granulated white sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 tbsp. butter (melted)
8 tbsp. light brown sugar
Glaze:
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
4 tsp. milk
Preheat oven to 350. In a medium bowl combine cream cheese with white sugar and vanilla. Mix until creamy and smooth. Separate the two cans of dough into 8 rectangles, sealing the seams of 2 triangles to make the rectangles. Spoon melted butter and brown sugar onto each rectangle. Roll each rectangle into a long skinny snake of dough. Then coil the snake making it into a circle. Squish the dough down in the middle making a little space for the cream cheese filling. Put a couple tablespoons of cream cheese filling into the center of each dough ball. Place then on a greased baking sheet and bake for 15-18 minutes. Mix up the glaze while the danishes are cooking and drizzle it over warm danishes when they come out of the oven.
I did make these last time without the glaze and I must say they are much better with it so take the time for that last extra step of scrumptiousness.
The Killer Hamster
This is my son. Waiting.
From the picture and generous supply of weaponry behind him you may thing we are going to soon be coming under attack from roaming savages. He is actually waiting for his cousins to arrive. We are lucky enough to live close to them allowing ample tree climbing, arrow shooting, snake catching, field exploring fun together. These are all the weapons he could find in our home so that he and his cousins could get some good fightin' in. He has collected a light saber, a dart gun you shoot with your mouth, an bow with 2 arrows, a play butcher knife, a throwing star and possibly most important of all...a hamster. Okay I have no idea why the hamster is a weapon but he is in a neatly seperated pile with the bow. Boys, what fun!
Sunday, September 9, 2012
Not so Radical
It has been a couple weeks since finishing the book Radical by David Platt. I started writing a review earlier but I was too angry with the author and my original post sounded more like a mad rant than an objective discussion of my thoughts on the book. I have calmed down....a little. Time for a second attempt at my thoughts on Radical.
I will start with what I do like about this book. Absolutely nothing. Only joking, though I may have said that a couple weeks go. I have had time to let it all simmer in. I do agree with most of what he says about money. As believers, our money and possessions are not our own. Not one single penny. It isn't a fun truth of our faith but it is still truth and it is everywhere in scripture. In America we have nice Christian financial teachers like Dave Ramsey to teach us how to be good stewards of our resources, but Christ would have utterly failed his Dave Ramsey money management class. He wants all of us, not 10%.
My very favorite tip from the book was deciding on an amount of money you need to live and then give away everything above and beyond that you make. This doesn't mean not giving from the money you make below that number, just that you ask the lord to show you how much is enough. My favorite story was his church asking how many children were waiting for foster care in their area and then the congregation taking every single child. That is beautiful. It also makes me think that it is possible he has helped usher in a real change with his church.
Now onto why I had so many issues with this book. First, David Platt comes off as a gigantic hypocrite, and I can say this because I know a thing or two about being a gigantic hypocrite. I am of the camp that if you are going to write a book about giving up everything you have in this world to serve the lord among unreached people groups you should have actually done it! David Platt, on the other hand, gets to travel the world doing missions all while also owning a home and pastoring a mega church. He has the luxury of not having to choose between two lives. He attends a very wealthy church, a fact he likes to mention often, which I am sure makes raising money for him to travel the world quite easy. In fact he harshly criticizes the average American for not giving it all up while regularly giving free passes to members of his own congregation. He tells us that doing things in our own areas is not enough, we are to travel abroad to reach the unreached. Then gives many examples of friends who still make a lot of money and use that money to send others or members of the congregation that have started missions in their own area. It doesn't sound like they are following his prescription for a radical life. I also got the unpleasant feeling you only have to be radical if you don't have money. If you do have money you get to live relatively comfortably and get the joy of furthering Gods kingdom. In his defense he does adamantly proclaim that you do not need money, resources or a lot of people to accomplish Gods purposes. I whole heartedly agree. Then he goes on to give example after example of people who succeeded who have money, resources and numbers on their side.
There are some other issues I take with his book but most stem from his tone. I am all for correction done well, we are in need of some serious correction in our American church system. He is obviously very passionate and I feel that his harsh tone may stem from some guilt over his own internal struggle with his situation as a pastor of a mega church in this country. He is very critical of the American christian while exalting believers in other countries and their struggles. Believers in other countries struggle with removing their blinders as much as people in our country. I agree ours is a self centered and materialistic society and it is so ingrained in our faith I often wonder if it will ever be fully removed. We all have sin and we all come from cultures that pollute our faith and all need the Holy Spirit to come into our lives and make us new.
What boggles me about this book is the overwhelming positive response to it. I can't figure it out. I have heard of so many who absolutely loved it but seen absolutely zero difference in their lives. I am not sure how we can love a book about giving everything up unless we are so delusional we think we are already doing that. It might just be me, but I don't always get excited about the truth of who God is calling me to be because it can be a very painful process. It goes to show that people still don't get it even after it has been laid very plainly before them. This isn't about following the steps Mr Platt lays out at the end of his book. It is about a real heart change and only God can do that.
Ultimately I think the author does feel passionately about his topic and has likely heard from God. If I could ask him one question it would be why do you hang on to your mega church? Why not build up the body and send them out to live out the call of God in their lives and serve others? I haven't seen how his church operates but it takes a tremendous amount of time, money and energy to keep up a church system like his. My hope is that with his understanding of the problem, he is helping raise up a body of believers that follow God and not a single pastor. A body that functions in the way God intends where they hear his voice and act. My fear is that he is no different than any other mega church pastor where his congregation sits comfortably listening to the truth but never hearing. That he will become a pastor who heard a word from God once and took it half way, then made it into a system to follow because it is easier than teaching people to hear from God and live it out.
I will start with what I do like about this book. Absolutely nothing. Only joking, though I may have said that a couple weeks go. I have had time to let it all simmer in. I do agree with most of what he says about money. As believers, our money and possessions are not our own. Not one single penny. It isn't a fun truth of our faith but it is still truth and it is everywhere in scripture. In America we have nice Christian financial teachers like Dave Ramsey to teach us how to be good stewards of our resources, but Christ would have utterly failed his Dave Ramsey money management class. He wants all of us, not 10%.
My very favorite tip from the book was deciding on an amount of money you need to live and then give away everything above and beyond that you make. This doesn't mean not giving from the money you make below that number, just that you ask the lord to show you how much is enough. My favorite story was his church asking how many children were waiting for foster care in their area and then the congregation taking every single child. That is beautiful. It also makes me think that it is possible he has helped usher in a real change with his church.
Now onto why I had so many issues with this book. First, David Platt comes off as a gigantic hypocrite, and I can say this because I know a thing or two about being a gigantic hypocrite. I am of the camp that if you are going to write a book about giving up everything you have in this world to serve the lord among unreached people groups you should have actually done it! David Platt, on the other hand, gets to travel the world doing missions all while also owning a home and pastoring a mega church. He has the luxury of not having to choose between two lives. He attends a very wealthy church, a fact he likes to mention often, which I am sure makes raising money for him to travel the world quite easy. In fact he harshly criticizes the average American for not giving it all up while regularly giving free passes to members of his own congregation. He tells us that doing things in our own areas is not enough, we are to travel abroad to reach the unreached. Then gives many examples of friends who still make a lot of money and use that money to send others or members of the congregation that have started missions in their own area. It doesn't sound like they are following his prescription for a radical life. I also got the unpleasant feeling you only have to be radical if you don't have money. If you do have money you get to live relatively comfortably and get the joy of furthering Gods kingdom. In his defense he does adamantly proclaim that you do not need money, resources or a lot of people to accomplish Gods purposes. I whole heartedly agree. Then he goes on to give example after example of people who succeeded who have money, resources and numbers on their side.
There are some other issues I take with his book but most stem from his tone. I am all for correction done well, we are in need of some serious correction in our American church system. He is obviously very passionate and I feel that his harsh tone may stem from some guilt over his own internal struggle with his situation as a pastor of a mega church in this country. He is very critical of the American christian while exalting believers in other countries and their struggles. Believers in other countries struggle with removing their blinders as much as people in our country. I agree ours is a self centered and materialistic society and it is so ingrained in our faith I often wonder if it will ever be fully removed. We all have sin and we all come from cultures that pollute our faith and all need the Holy Spirit to come into our lives and make us new.
What boggles me about this book is the overwhelming positive response to it. I can't figure it out. I have heard of so many who absolutely loved it but seen absolutely zero difference in their lives. I am not sure how we can love a book about giving everything up unless we are so delusional we think we are already doing that. It might just be me, but I don't always get excited about the truth of who God is calling me to be because it can be a very painful process. It goes to show that people still don't get it even after it has been laid very plainly before them. This isn't about following the steps Mr Platt lays out at the end of his book. It is about a real heart change and only God can do that.
Ultimately I think the author does feel passionately about his topic and has likely heard from God. If I could ask him one question it would be why do you hang on to your mega church? Why not build up the body and send them out to live out the call of God in their lives and serve others? I haven't seen how his church operates but it takes a tremendous amount of time, money and energy to keep up a church system like his. My hope is that with his understanding of the problem, he is helping raise up a body of believers that follow God and not a single pastor. A body that functions in the way God intends where they hear his voice and act. My fear is that he is no different than any other mega church pastor where his congregation sits comfortably listening to the truth but never hearing. That he will become a pastor who heard a word from God once and took it half way, then made it into a system to follow because it is easier than teaching people to hear from God and live it out.
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