Food Friday: Baked Potato Soup

As part of my goal to cook more now that the semester is over I've decided to jump on the "Food Friday" bandwagon. Just a warning the following recipe is not suitable for those trying to lose weight, fight heart disease, etc. :-) The pictures alone may clog your arteries. Enjoy.

On cold evenings when we have a little time to spare my family loves to enjoy a good pot of baked potato soup. This particular version is especially delicious (and fattening). Hint: if a recipe starts with melting a stick or more of butter it's good.

Oh wait, that butter was just to tantalize you. First you need to assemble your ingredients.

Ingredients:

4        large baking potatoes

2/3 c.   butter or margarine

2/3 c.   flour

6 c.     milk

3/4 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. pepper

4        green onions, chopped

12       slices bacon, cooked and crumbled

1 c.     shredded Cheddar cheese (additional for garnish)

8 oz.    sour cream

Directions:

Bake potatoes (hint do this several hours ahead, peeling and dicing freshly baked potatoes can remove your fingerprints and prepare you for a life of crime).

Melt butter. Add flour until smooth. Cook 1 min. stirring constantly. Gradually add milk. Turn to medium heat until thick and bubbly.

Add potatoes (peeled and diced), salt, pepper, a handful of green onion, 1/2 c. bacon, and cheese. Cook until hot. Stir in sour cream. If too thick, add milk to your desired consistency.

Garnish with cheese, green onions and bacon and ENJOY!

You Go!

Hello all. It has been ages. I've returned to tell you a story. A long time ago there was a little girl. She had blonde hair, blue eyes, and as one old preacher said, a kissing smile. She was cute. But even at the age of five she had more than ruffles and bows on her mind and heart. Her family faithfully attended General Conference every year. Every year during the foreign missions service she would sit there primly, dreaming of responding to the alter call for new missionaries and knowing she was way to little. After services they would go to the exhibits and if her parents lost her they knew she would be in the Foreign Missions area chatting with the missionaries. All her life the missionaries were her heroes. She loved to hear them talk and dreamed of visiting their countries. She dreamed of people getting the Holy Ghost and of a man, preaching in Spanish about el fuego del Spirito Santo (the fire of the Holy Ghost). And yet she wondered why God never sent an angel down or any such amazing thing to call her. She remembered sitting at the table with Nixes and dreaming of visiting them in Peru. She remembered all this and she longed to go but somehow she was convinced she hadn't been called. Then one day in deep prayer she realized she had been called for so long that she simply didn't realize because she couldn't remember NOT being called. That little girl grew up, gone is the blonde hair and blue eyes. Still her heart longs for Peru. Life is what it is and she's still to young to just run off to another country as a full time missionary. But she has wanted to do an AYC trip for a long time. Each summer though the time wasn't right and Peru wasn't on the list and she was determined to go there. For a while she gave up. And then the tugging to go on an AYC trip returned. And so she decided to start saving vacation time for the Summer of 2013, not knowing where the destinations were but knowing 2013 was her last summer before adult life set in. The summer before senior year seemed like the perfect time and so she started saving those vacation days. Then she decided to check the AYC website. And she found they had posted the 2013 destinations. And there on the list, towards the bottom was Peru. The letters leaped out at her and she it was time for her to go. Or should I say it's time for me to go. 

July 12-22, 2013

Peru

Est. Cost $3000

Will you help me go? Will you donate? Will you pray? Will you give me fundraising ideas? Will you help me go? Many obstacles stand in the way and most of all I would ask that you pray for my father. I am his baby girl and he worries about me. I send him a text when I get places so he knows I'm ok. Peru would be hard for him to handle. But the LORD is able to give peace. So pray with me! Thank you and if you are 16-35 YOU GO!

How Much Does the Love of God Cost?

¿Cuánto cuesta el amor de Dios? Cuesta nada pero costó la vida de Jesús. 

How much does the love of God cost? It costs nothing but it cost the life of Jesus.

I love Him.

I love Him.

Because He first loved me.

And purchased my salvation on Calvary.

Learning Spanish has been such a beautiful thing for me. I've come to the point that I love to worship and pray in Spanish. It's so much more real even though I do make mistakes sometimes. I give so much more thought to the meaning of what I'm saying. I've realized that it becomes easy for words to become meaningless. We use them so much we don't think about it. We forget their meaning and we forget such important things. We say things over and over but do we even know what we're saying anymore? It's so easy to speak the words and not really remember what they mean. We just have an autopilot response and that's that.

I have heard and said all my life that God loved me so much that He died for me. I've heard and said time and time again that His love is unconditional, that it costs me nothing, that He already paid the price. Oh, but do know what it means? Do I know?? ¿Cuánto cuesta el amor de Jesus? How much does it cost? Oh, it's easy to say it costs nothing but not remember that it really means NOTHING! And so I forget and I begin to try to earn His love. I try to buy it with my deeds.

But then I feel His arms of love wrap around me when I least deserve it and I remember again as the oh so emphatic words "El amor de Jesus cuesta nada"  slip from my mouth. ¿Nada? Really? Nothing at all? It costs nothing? 

And then I am shaken. I tremble in shock as I remember "costó la vida de Jesus." It cost the life of Jesus. And as those words travel through my mind I see the picture of Christ Jesus on the Cross. The blood drips from His battered body and I really remember the love of God. I remember His love cost me nothing but it cost Him so much because He loved me enough to ensure that it would cost me nothing. And in that moment I am truly grateful and aware of His love for me. I'm truly aware that it cost me nothing because it cost Him everything.

John 13:15

Greater love hath no man that this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.

King James Version

John 3:16

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

King James Version

2012 - Memories Made - Week 1

1/366 - Jan. 1 - Kaylie (a wonderful member of our A-Team bus ministry) was baptized in Jesus Name. What a great way to start the new year.

2/366 - Jan. 2 - Enjoying the Journal Josiah (Honey-Pie) got me for Christmas. Using it to take notes on my Bible reading.

3/366 - Jan. 3 - Productive day but a never ending sinus infection is sent me to bed early so goodnight from me and Teddy.

4/366 - Jan. 4 - Back to school seems real now. $518.32 real. Anyone wanna subsidize that? ;-)

5/366 - Jan. 5 - Got to work and discovered I'd been awarded a "Dewey" (our library employee awards). Isn't my frog cute? He's for those who go above and beyond. Thanks to my co-worker Matt for the nomination.

6/366 - Jan. 6 - Discovered Barnes & Noble will buy used textbooks. Shipped these babies off.

7/366 - Jan. 7 - Preparing for school to start Monday. A nice clean desk ready for lots of studying (or facebooking).

And finally the song that I've had on repeat all week.

Preview of the Future

Sorry for my absence. It has been a hectic semester. However it is now over just in time for my granny to fly in tonight. She brought me a couple things and so I'll share them as a taste of a future post regarding my hope chest.

She brought me the "earnest of my inheritance" in the form of a teacup and saucer:

Just lovely

Look at the beautiful design on the inside of the cup.

She also made two lovely baby blankets, one blue and one yellow, for my brother and I to put back for our first children. I chose the yellow for reasons to be explained later.

From a Thankful Heart Part 2

Day 16: I'm thankful that this semester is almost over. I've been so tired all semester long. I'm ready to relax and craft.

Day 17: I'm thankful for a ball of energy and amazingness that attends my church. Dot Weems is one of the most wonderful women I know. She is the reason the children on BAUPC have manners and she is the one we all grew up knowing and loving. :) I enjoy her hugs every service and every time I visit Lynn Wood Elementary. 

At this point let me note that I fell off the bandwagon of posting daily although I still thought about it often so here's what would've been posted. Nov. 25th was actually posted to my Facebook account though.

Day 18: I'm thankful that Joey and I met 3 years and 5 months  ago today. The 18th of every month is special. :)

Day 19: I'm thankful for the opportunity to study God's word and pursue His calling through Purpose Institute. 

Day 20: I'm thankful for the opportunity to use my limited talents for God. Thank you to BAUPC for putting up with my piano playing a few times a month. 

Day 21: I'm thankful for Thanksgiving break and sleeping in (kinda).

Day 22: I'm thankful for sick time that allowed me to come home from work today without worrying about making up the time later.

Day 23: I'm thankful for having the same home for 15 years. However I'm not thankful that I never fully cleaned out my closet 'til now. 5 year olds keep WEIRD things.

Day 24: I'm thankful for paint remover that swiftly removed the crude artwork painted on our mini-van this Thanksgiving morning.

Day 25: I'm thankful for my rock. Josiah Marshall was born 19 years ago today and I'm so thankful for that. Happy Birthday Joey.

Day 26: I'm thankful for yesterday's Black Friday sales. Although I didn't go out 'til almost 10:30 am I still scored $120 worth of Christmas presents for Joey for $44. :)

Day 27: I'm thankful for gentle reminders from God.

Day 28: I'm thankful that the test I forgot about is tomorrow not today.

Day 29: I'm thankful for sound teaching in my home life that allows me to stand strong even when today's readings for Foundations of Education were in direct opposition to some things I believe.

Day 30: I'm thankful that with tomorrow begins the countdown to Christmas. It's DECEMBER (tomorrow)!!!!!!!

Wisdom for Wednesday

Knowing is not enough; we must apply.

Willing is not enough; we must do

--Johann Wolfgang von Goethe--

This quote really speaks to me right now. I encountered it while going on my first walk/run in trying to begin the "Couch to 5K" program. The app thinks that I need motivating so it provides me with a quote as I try not to die while asthma battles my desire to lose the 30 extra pounds I need to shed. 

The wisdom of this quote convicted me both about my spiritual life and my natural life. There are so many things that I know that I still don't act on. 

• I know a daily devotion would make every day better but some days I am just "too busy" (what a joke).
• I know that if I would dust my room regularly I'd be able to breathe better but I always seem to put it off 'til company's coming.
• I know homework should be done early not at the last second but somehow something else (like this blog post) seems more important at the time.
• I know...but...

That short list sums up a major battle I have...procrastination. How many things do we know but not apply? We know to eat healthy, but do we? We know our neighbors are lost, but do we witness to them? How many opportunities have we lost because we failed to apply now not "later" (though somehow later never seems to come for many things)? I challenge all of you: do something today you'd ordinarily put off 'til the tomorrow that never comes. I will do the same. Let's not just know about what we should do. Let's do it!

James 1:22

But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.

King James Version