Yummy Recipes

Here are some of  my favorite recipes for you all to try.  If you have a favorite recipe that you want to share just get a copy of it to me or Rachel to add to our collection here on the blog.

Granola

8 cups uncooked rolled oats

4 cups wheat flake cereal (Total, Wheaties, etc.), measure then crush

3 cups raw wheat germ

½ cup sunflower seeds          Optional: 1/8 cup ground flaxseed

½ tsp. Salt                       

2 cups oil *

2 cups honey*

¾ cup chopped nuts (I like almonds)

2 cups dried fruit (apples or raisins work best)

Combine rolled oats, wheat germ, seeds, salt and nuts together in a large bowl and set aside.  Mix oil and honey together and heat at medium setting on stove.  Heat just until it gets hot and bubbly, stirring constantly. 
Stir honey and oil into oat mixture.  Spread onto 2 greased cookie sheets.

Bake at 350° for 20 min. or until golden brown.  Stir once halfway through cooking and several times during cooling.  Stir fruit in after granola is cooked, but while it is still warm.

Store in fridge in airtight container or zip lock bag. 

* Most of the time I do this low fat version: half the fat (so it’s 1 cup instead of 2) and add an extra ½ cup honey (which makes it 2 ½ instead of 2)

***Tip: For crunchy granola let it cool completely before putting it away.

 For chewy granola put it away while it is still slightly warm.

 

Pumpkin Pancakes

1 cup flour

1 Tbsp. Sugar

2 tsp. baking powder

½ tsp. Salt

½ tsp. Ground cinnamon

2 eggs, separated

1 cup milk

½ cup cooked or canned pumpkin

2 Tbsp. Oil

1 ½ cups mini or regular semisweet chocolate chips (optional)

Combine dry ingredients in a bowl.  In another bowl, whisk the egg yolks, milk, pumpkin, and oil.  Stir into dry ingredients until just moistened.  In a mixing bowl, beat the egg whites until soft peaks form; fold into batter.  Add chocolate chips barely mixing to incorporate.

Pour batter by ¼ cupfuls onto a hot greased griddle.  Turn when bubbles form on the tops of pancakes.

Serve with powdered sugar

4 Season Quick Bread

3 cups flour

1 tsp. Salt

1 tsp. Baking Soda

½ tsp. Baking powder

2 tsp. Cinnamon* (or other spices below, according to what type of bread you are making)

3 eggs

1 ½ cups sugar

1 cup oil

1 tsp. Vanilla

2 cups fruit or veggie (ideas below with spice add-ins)

1 cup nuts (optional)

Combine all ingredients.  Bake 50-60 minutes in loaf pans @ 350°.  Makes 2 loaves

*Zucchini : 1 ½ tsp. Cinnamon and ½ tsp. allspice.

*Pumpkin : 1 tsp. cinnamon, ½ tsp. nutmeg, ¼-½ tsp. cloves

*Banana : 1 ½ tsp. cinnamon, ½ tsp. allspice

*Orange-Cranberry : 1 tsp. cinnamon, ½ tsp. cloves, 1 tsp. orange zest or orange oil, add lemon extract

instead of vanilla.

*Applesauce : 2 tsp. cinnamon

 

 

Pizza Soup and Breadsticks

For the soup:

½ lb. Ground sausage

2 oz. (about 28 slices) pepperoni, cut into quarters

½ Tbsp. Dried onions (substitutes: ½ a small onion or ½ tsp onion powder)

½ cup chopped green peppers

1 small can sliced black olives, drained

1  14-16 oz can petite diced tomatoes, partially drained

1  14-16 oz can tomato sauce

¼ cup water

¼ tsp. black pepper

¼ tsp. lemon pepper

¼ tsp. garlic powder (substitute: 1 clove garlic)

¾ tsp. Italian seasoning

¼ tsp. Mrs. Dash, Original Blend

Brown the sausage and drain most of the grease.  Add pepperoni, onions, and peppers and cook about 5 minutes on medium heat. Add the rest of the ingredients and bring to a boil.  Let simmer for about a half an hour or until peppers are cooked through.  Serve with a sprinkle of parmesan or mozzarella cheese and some breadsticks.    **You can doctor it up any way you want by adding more or less of any of the seasonings to your liking.  Try adding other ingredients such as mushrooms, pineapple, Canadian bacon or any other pizza ingredients you like; just keep in mind that if you add more ingredients you will need a bit more liquid as well.

For the Breadsticks:

1 cup warm water

1 tsp. oil

1 Tbsp. Yeast

½ tsp Sugar

2 ½ cups flour

½ tsp. salt

Mix ingredients and knead well.  Let rise 15 minutes then spread onto a cookie sheet or pizza pan.  Brush entire thing with spreadable or softened butter.  Sprinkle Garlic powder and grated parmesan over the top then do the same with some mozzarella cheese.  Pre cut breadsticks with a pizza cutter.  Bake at 500° for 6-8 minutes or until cheese starts to golden.    *You can use this same recipe for pizza dough also.  Just cook an additional 4-6 minutes with all the toppings of a pizza.

 

Banana Icecream

3 frozen ripe bananas (slice before freezing)

¾-1 cup milk

1/8 tsp nutmeg

½ tsp cinnamon

Throw everything into a blender.  Blend until smooth.  Adjust spices and consistency to your taste.

*Variation: instead of cinnamon and nutmeg, add 1 tbs. Of almond or peanut butter and 1 tbs. Cocoa, carab, or chocolate milk powder for a yummy banana chocolate peanut butter icecream.

Best Brownies Ever

1 cup butter

4 oz. Unsweetened chocolate

2 cups sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

4 eggs

1 cup flour

2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Melt unsweetened chocolate and butter in a 2 quart bowl in microwave for 3 minutes, stirring every 20-30 seconds until chocolate is melted.  Cool slightly.

Add sugar, eggs, and vanilla and mix well with a spatula.

Add the flour and stir to combine

Stir in chocolate chips.  Spread into a buttered 13x9 inch pan. Bake @ 350 for 20-25 min.  Do not overcook.  Cool.

Enjoy with your favorite frosting, icecream or ganache.  They are good on their own too.

Nov 6, 2011

Just as a reminder, this is a post based on the notes I take during the church meetings I'm able to attend.  They are just my scribbled notes, so I tend to leave out quite a bit of info which means that I am entirely fallible.  So please be sure to read through the scripture references, quoted talks, and lessons in their entirety yourselves so you will know by the gift of the Holy Spirit the things which your Father in Heaven wants you to understand to better your understanding and lives (as well as those around you).  And if you find discrepancies from something that you have commented on which I misquote...please forgive and just leave a comment to correct?  Thanks, sisters!

Relief Society (sorry everyone, this turned out to be the only meeting I was successful at attending so I could take notes)

Opening Hymn "Because I Have Been Given Much"

Lesson: Gratitude

Gratitude: an action word, not simply a noun or adjective.  if you don't act on it, what meaning does "Thank you" really have?

What are you grateful for?

*health, food/chocolate, family, scriptures, body, repentance, liberty, testimony, family, the Savior, challenges

How do you show gratitude?

*Use the things you are grateful for.

*Actively do: vote, pray, repent, help/serve each other, share, etc.

*Say "Thank you."

*Show kindness.

*Go to the temple/babysit so others can attend the temple.

*Explore and learn about what you are grateful for.

Who is the best example?  the Savior

Bro. Lewis (from the ward...I think this was during the Gospel Doctrine Sunday School lesson today?) said that to strengthen our testimony in and love for the Savior, we need to share that with others.

What is Charity?  "The pure love of Christ"

Elder Alonzo, in his conference talk "Doing the Right Thing at the Right Time Without Delay", said, "The Savior … gave us a great example about not waiting to administer relief to those who have lost a sense of happiness and joy....He is our Savior, He is our teacher, and He is the perfect example...When we serve our neighbor, we help those who are in need. In the process we may find solutions to our own difficulties." (Again, please read through the talk yourself...this is just my shortened version of what was being quoted in jumps and starts so I could attempt to keep up).

Gratitude leads to service-as Christ did.  (How hard is it to receive service from others with a truly grateful heart without wanting to immediately go out and give service to another?...personal thought)

Sis. Allred said in her conference talk "Charity Never Faileth"...."The prophet Mormon defines charity as “the pure love of Christ,”⁵ while Paul teaches that “charity … is the bond of perfectness,”⁶ and Nephi reminds us that “the Lord God hath given a commandment that all men should have charity, which charity is love.”⁷In reviewing Paul’s previous description of charity, we learn that charity is not a single act or something we give away but a state of being, a state of the heart, kind feelings that engender loving actions." (Italicized emphasis added by me, personally)

Note how, again, it is not just words being said but actions stated and then lead to becoming.

Comment given about how hard it is to resist sharing something once given such as a recipe for an amazing chocolate cake which you then give to a neighbor in need of dinner, or a great joke from someone that you just have to share to make another smile.

Comment given how saying or showing gratitude should also be remembered as a physical experience, not just a spiritual....like how we came to earth to have temporal/physical experiences so the new blessings we are grateful for are often shared with others through temporal or physical means.  (like sharing a chocolate cake)

When do we express gratitude?  ALWAYS

How it really becomes a lifestyle change, a kind of new attitude.

(Personally, it also struck me how difficult it becomes to be truly grateful over time without also being very meek at heart because otherwise pride will rear it's ugly head and begin to destroy those actions and feelings of true gratitude.)

Moroni 7:45-47...."And ^acharity suffereth long, and is ^bkind, and ^cenvieth not, and is not puffed up, seeketh not her own, is not easily ^dprovoked, thinketh no evil, and rejoiceth not in iniquity but rejoiceth in the truth, beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.

 46 Wherefore, my beloved brethren, if ye have not charity, ye are nothing, for charity never faileth. Wherefore, cleave unto charity, which is the greatest of all, for all things must fail—

 47 But ^acharity is the pure ^blove of Christ, and it endureth ^cforever; and whoso is found possessed of it at the last day, it shall be well with him."

How when the Relief Society (you'll often see me shorten this to R.S. for time's sake) was organized, the prophet Joseph Smith stated that it was "established to receive the poor and save souls".  How great is it to belong to an organization such as the R.S. where we are directed to action and giving, not just attend meetings?

What are your favorite examples of such service?

(Sorry everyone, sometimes either I can't see who is speaking or I can't write fast enough to record names though I'm working on it?)

*example given of her sister who tries to help her mother (who is struggling with cancer and needs to mash her food to eat it, but is also feeding her boyfriend who doesn't mash his food) by preparing ahead several days or even weeks' worth of meals, freezes them, and delivers them so the mother/boyfriend don't have to cook or worry about food sources.

*example given of how when this sister lost her mother (which was very unexpected and an incredible shock to everyone), her father called to tell her about her mother passing away.  How immediately after he shared the sad news his first question was "what can I do to help you with this?" rather than strictly mourning for his own loss as well as several other things he had done with his life to help and support those around him who would be struggling with the same problems he himself had rather than focusing on just his own problems.

*example I gave of how when I was growing up we learned to take advantage of the opportunities to serve others so that we could learn to recognize others' needs by working together and thereby learning to recognize each others' needs as well....which served to bind us even further together as a family as well as teaching us the importance of serving others especially when we were feeling a little picked on ourselves.

Elder Hale, in his conference talk "Waiting upon the Lord" said, "Tests and trials are given to all of us. These mortal challenges allow us and our Heavenly Father to see whether we will exercise our agency to follow His Son.  He already knows..."  (Please, go read this entire talk it is extremely powerful in addressing our perspective on our personal challenges and how we will deal with them.)

The teacher pointed out (also from further along in the talk just quoted) our Heavenly Father already knows us and knows the things we will choose, but this is our opportunity to learn for ourselves so we know without question.

Sis. Allred also said (I think in the same talk I shared the link to above?) how important charity is to us, and how the most important and simplest calling to acquire this attribute is through Visiting Teaching.  How by helping each other and in particular our sisters, we become more like our Savior.

Also it was noted how visiting teaching is a great way to change your attitude and perspective.

Example given of the awesome example of charity that we have in our ward of Bishop and his family.  (She sees this personally because they are neighbors, so their comings and goings are observable by she and her family)  How Bishop is constantly, in his free time, running somewhere in his Sunday suit to help someone and while he is gone his family keeps on going and filling in the things that he would otherwise do without fighting over it.

D&C 59:7 - "Thou shalt ^athank the Lord thy God in all things."  How it is important it is not just in successes and blessings, but in challenges and frustrations too!

*example I gave of how afraid our kids have been of the dark.  During one period of time, it got so severe that they would fight driving anywhere in the dark without turning on one of the passenger lights so my husband finally pulled over somewhere that we could all get out and see the sky clearly.  He pointed out the stars to them and how beautiful they are, and taught the kids how the only way we can see the beauty of the stars and other things that are only there in the dark is because of the thing they feared so much.  Since then, there have been times when the kids will find ways to see the best aspects of that which otherwise drives them nuts like cleaning the house (my oldest once popped up and said "well, at least I have a bedroom to clean and brothers to make a mess while playing"). 

*example given by the teacher who shared about how during a Primary lesson one little girl, in her prayer, gave thanks for the beautiful mountains.  The other kids in the class all kind of snickered over that, but after the teacher spoke in his lesson about how lucky everyone was to have the earth she gave the closing prayer and included thanks for the beautiful mountains.  How ever since then she has always found the mountains to be so incredibly beautiful and comforting.

D&C 88:63 - "Draw ^bnear unto me and I will draw near unto you; ^cseek me diligently and ye shall ^dfind me; ask, and ye shall receive; knock, and it shall be opened unto you."

Teacher ended with her own testimony and closed.

The opportunity was then given for others to share their testimonies (this being Fast and Testimony Sunday):

*Sis. shared how while they are still fairly new to the ward (only been here a few months), and she has been in Primary until this new calling to the R.S. presidency, she has enjoyed getting to know the sisters in our ward.  And how grateful she is for prayer and being able to receive answers directly.

*Sis. shared how she and her husband have begun reading scriptures again, and how they offer sacrifice for everything (like offering sacrifice for things they are grateful for).  The had talked about how we don't have to offer ritual sacrifice but should be 'giving until it hurts a little' when we do receive and wish to show our gratitude.  How grateful she is for the gospel, its guidance for her as a mother and also what the gospel does for her family.

Closing Hymn: 309 "As Sisters in Zion"

Because I Have Been Given Much...October 2011 activity

"Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me."  Matt 25:40
"We are the Lord’s hands here upon the earth, with the mandate to serve and to lift His children. He is dependent upon each of us.”  Pres. Thomas S. Monson

"The Savior taught His disciples, 'For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it' (Luke 9:24) "I believe the Savior is telling us that unless we lose ourselves in service to others, there is little purpose to our own lives. Those who live only for themselves eventually shrivel up and figuratively lose their lives, while those who lose themselves in service to others grow and flourish—and in effect save their lives."  Thomas S. Monson

Hello all!  This Wednesday (Oct 12th) at 7pm there will be a R.S. Service Auction!  This is a fun and easy activity where you get to donate different services (making/delivering a meal, babysitting, taxi services, haircuts, FHE packets, or whatever you feel that you can give to a sister in the ward) to be bid on the evening of the activity....and where you get to bid on services as well!  You don't need to bring any money, just yourselves (and any cookies plus recipe you want to donate to this month's Taster's Table as a special treat) and a spirit willing to get to know the other sister's in the ward! 

Basically, the way it will work is this:  Come (don't forget to bring a friend, neighbor, or family member and a batch of cookies plus copy of the recipe for the Taster's Table) to the church building at 7pm on Wed.  When you get there, you will be given a questionnaire to fill out (I'll post an example of this questionnaire in the next few days).  It will ask you about the things you've been doing (like how many times you've written in your journal in the last week, how many times have you fasted, have you paid your tithing in the last month, have you called a sister to see how they are doing, have you done your visiting teaching, how many church meetings have you attended in the last week, how many times attended the temple, etc.).  You will also have a final opportunity to list any services you are willing to perform for others to bid on at this point (for each service offered up we will fill out a kind of IOU slip that will list the person's name, phone, and the service donated).  Once everyone has filled out a questionnaire (hopefully by 7:15?), the points from the questionnaire added up and the play money distributed accordingly (based on the points from the questionnaire).  After this is finished, the auction itself will begin.  If you are willing to donate a service for the auction but don't know if you will be able to attend, please either leave a comment accordingly below, email or call me (my info is the only posted thus far on the right side column of this site).

With most of the monthly activities we have at the church for the next little while, the refreshments will be provided via a Taster's Table (think kinda like a Recipe Exchange) with a different theme each month.  The way it will work is there will be an assigned theme (this month is cookies) and then those willing will bring samples for everyone to taste and a copy of the recipe (which we will copy for distribution and also post here online).  So for this month's activity, we will be tasting and exchanging recipes for the cookies of those who have been willing and able to bring a treat during the Service Auction.  Please remember: if you are bringing a batch of cookies, don't forget to also bring a copy of the recipe to share with everyone! 

Remember one of the most beloved of our hymns, "Because I have been given much, I too must give.."?  We have been told over and over again through scripture, conference talks, Ensign articles, and other lessons that "by small and simple things shall great things come to pass".  Please remember that what you do every day has a great deal of value, and our eternal Father knows these and values them.  Let us truly remember that we are here to act as His hands and wrap ourselves and our sisters in the divine love that is best felt as we serve each other!

Welcome One and All!

This is a blogsite done personally by me (Rachel Martin) to help, support, and share in the amazingly unique sisterhood that we have available through our very own Greenfield ward.  I will be doing my best through my own efforts and any others willing to post information about various activities, lessons, recipes, crafts, and general life as we get to experience through our membership of the Relief Society.  Having said that, please feel free to share the things we post on here remembering the council of President Uchtdorf to "blog and text message the gospel to all the world...but please remember, all at the right time and at the right place."

Also remember that I am incredibly fallible and imperfect, so please message me any suggestions or corrections?  Thanks for joining with me in sharing our wonderful sisterhood of love!