I_Love_JesseG's Xanga

Tuesday, December 05, 2006

Tue, 05 Dec 2006 02:19:28 GMT

I have a recipe website: http://www.deliciousbits.com

I started it so that I could write down all of the family recipes of my mom's and grandma's. Many times there are so many good ones and they never get written down. Along with all the recipes are the memories that go along with them. So with this new site I am going to try and pass on some of these recipes as well as their memories!!
Hope you all enjoy!!

Sunday, November 12, 2006

Sun, 12 Nov 2006 00:47:28 GMT

With fall already here and the Christmas season fast approaching I have been cooking up a storm in my tiny little kitchen. I love to cook and with it being the season of pumpkin and great spices like nutmeg, ginger, and cinnamon, I have had a great excuse to do so and, no season would be complete without a few special dishes to top off the already beautiful time of year.

Here are some of my favorites so far recipes:
Pumpkin Bread: (Recipe from www.Simplyrecipes.com)

**this one tastes great right out of the oven with butter.**

1 1/2 cups (210g) flour
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1 cup (200 g) sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup (1/4 L) pumpkin purée (don't be afraid to be liberal with this)
1/2 cup (1 dL) olive oil
2 eggs, beaten
1/4 cup water
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon allspice
1/2 cup (1 dL) chopped walnuts (optional)

Preheat oven to 350°F (180°C). Sift together the flour, salt, sugar, and baking soda. Mix the pumpkin, oil, eggs, 1/4 cup of water, and spices together, then combine with the dry ingredients, but do not mix too thoroughly. Stir in the nuts. Pour into a well-buttered 9x5x3 inch loaf pan. Bake 50-60 minutes until a straw poked in the very center of the loaf comes out clean. Turn out of the pan and let cool on a rack.

Makes one loaf.

The Next recipe is another bread recipe that is perfect for this season.

Cranberry Bread: (Recipe from www.Simplyrecipes.com)

2 cups flour
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup coarsely chopped walnuts
1 cup chopped cranberries

3/4 cup orange juice
1/4 cup butter, melted
1 egg, beaten
1 Tbsp grated orange peel

1 Pre-heat oven to 350°F.

2 Mix the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large mixing bowl. Add the chopped cranberries and walnuts to coat with the flour mixture.

3 Mix together orange juice, butter, egg, and orange peel. Add to flour, cranberry, nut mixture and stir with a wooden spoon until just blended.

4 Pour into a greased 9x5 or 8x4 loaf pan. Bake at 350°F for 55 to 60 minutes or until done (a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean).

5 Cool in pan for 10 minutes. Remove from pan and cool on a wire rack.

Serves 8.

The last recipe is from a co-worker. She makes the most amazing pulled pork I have ever tasted before. I tried it a few weeks ago and it was amazing.

Pulled Pork:
One boneless pork roast
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup white vinegar
One 16 oz bottle ketchup
1 Large onion sliced thinly
salt/pepper

Combine all ingredients in crock pot and cook on low for 10-12 hours. It will be tender enough to pull apart with a fork. After pulling apart allow to simmer in juice another 20-30 minutes.

Serve with toasted rolls and applesauce!

Sunday, October 22, 2006

Sun, 22 Oct 2006 00:47:41 GMT

I got a Kitty!! She is so cute and cuddly and super high energy. We went to the animal shelter and found one there. She was a stray and is only 8 weeks old and we named her Antigone. She definitely adds some life to our apartment!

Here are some pictures of her...

Sunday, October 15, 2006

Sun, 15 Oct 2006 11:26:47 GMT

Yesterday was a church workday. I scrubbed scuff marks off of pews for about 3-4 hours. It was quite the monotonous task and the rows of pews seemed endless. But they are shiny and clean now!!

Amber came over last night. We had a great time, we haven't hung out in so long it was great to finally get together. I made some rockin pumpkin bread and we played some quiddler. Amber beat us by alot.

I love fall...crisp leaves, cold weather, warm apple cider, pumpkins and hay rides.

Letters From War

Tue, 10 Oct 2006 21:51:52 GMT

I recently watched this music video from Mark Shultz' song "Letters from war". It is such a good song, definitely made me cry.

(and mom if you watch this make sure you have some tissues handy )

Thursday, October 05, 2006

Thu, 05 Oct 2006 01:52:13 GMT

I hate the ravages of cancer. The pain it brings and leaves behind. There is a man in our church who just recently was diagnosed with cancer. It is growing fast (to fast) and he has taken a turn for the worse. If you find a moment lift him and his family up in prayer. He has been so strong so far, such an example of faith. I know that God can heal him, that part is sure. It just seems so bleak. There is so much pain and hurt involved I just wish it was yesterday that he was healed. I'm praying for a miracle and have faith that He CAN do it! Pray that prayer along with me.

James 1:6 "But He must ask in faith without any doubting..."

Wednesday, September 27, 2006

Wed, 27 Sep 2006 01:11:01 GMT

This weekend our young adult group went hiking. It was great fun. Only a few mishaps, and nothing life threatening. Although when one of our members fell from a cliff...I did wonder if we would be visiting the nearby hospital. He was fine, which was good because we were on the top of a mountain!

We went up to Jim Thorpe and hiked up Lehigh Gorge. There were five of us in all and Jenna and I were the only girls. We showed those men how real hikers hiked!! It was fun. We touched a real water fall too.
I was taking a picture of Jesse who was on top of the waterfall on the next ledge and while trying to find a good place to take the picture from, I fell and tossed the camera a few feet away. It hurt pretty bad and luckily only a few bruises to show for it; but I watched our camera bounce along the jagged rocks and thought..."well we always wanted a new camera"...but it still worked when we found it.

All in all it was a good day...tiring but good!! Thanks to all the young adults who braved it and came out!!
Click here for some pictures: www.blog.plasticmind.com

Side Note:
So I have decided that I am no good at updating. I never have anything exciting to write about and if I do I am too busy to sit down and type it all out.

Wednesday, September 20, 2006

Wed, 20 Sep 2006 00:45:41 GMT

I went to Bible study tonight after work. It is always a struggle to go anywhere after work and have any energy, but tonight I really enjoyed what we were studying. We just started a study on the book of Phillippians. It was great to meet with other women and be encouraged. We were looking at Paul and all the situations he was in while doing the Lord's work. One of the questions that we answered was; what indications did Paul have that He was doing the Lord's will. If you think about it, from the worlds eyes or even someone who is not very in tune to the Lord, would say that he may not have been in the Lord's will. He was shipwrecked, beaten, imprisoned on numerous occasions, in mobs, constantly on the run for this or that, along with many other things. If for a minute he took his eyes off Christ you could see how easily he could just forget it all and go back to his life before becoming a follower of Christ. But that is not what he did. He was so focused and in tune to what God had called him to do that no matter the situation he continued to use it to glorify God. In prison after being beaten and chained in a dirty smelly prison, he didn't question God's intentions, he used his situation, and because of that he was blessed and others came to know Christ. Awesome example for us to follow!!! If only I would be half as faithful as Paul, and I am not even in prison or being beaten!!

Sunday, September 17, 2006

Sun, 17 Sep 2006 17:31:48 GMT

Jesse and I happened upon this nature center on Saturday and as part of their facility they had a butterfly greenhouse. It was so awesome, the butterfly's woulden't fly away they would just sit there and I even touched one without it moving. We got some great shots of them, they were beautiful!!

Sunday, September 17, 2006

Sun, 17 Sep 2006 17:14:02 GMT

So things have been pretty busy around here. Our YAM bash went awesome. Aside from Ernesto crashing our good time, we still had a good number of people and quite a good time. The rain held off enough to play volleyball and have a bonfire so that was great!

Work is well...work. Don't love it, and always look forward to the weekends. I almost got the girl I work with fired...sigh not much else to say about that ! I love my kids there, but not much else. But actually the Lord has really been giving me a better attitude through it all. I have really been meditating on verses in Colossians 3 and Phillippians 2, they have really been helpful and encouraging. This week was a long week though. We had back to school night for the whole center and surprisingly we had quite a showing from our parents.

My brother is off to college and ROTC in Virginia. He is loving it and really ajusting to college and ROTC life quite well. We all can't wait to see him when he comes home though.