Lemonade by the Gallon

When life hands you lemons, know Who holds the sugar. Romans 8:28

Archive for the ‘Holidays’ Category

Thanksgiving 2009 – Black Friday.

Posted by Mrs. Nicklebee on November 28, 2009

Today I am thankful …

that I didn’t go out into the madness!  :) I am also thankful that we have had two nice days in a row of visiting family.

 

Yesterday, we had dinner with dh’s father and stepmother.  Smom and I each made complete meals.  She cooked the turkey, made sweet potato casserole, mashed potatoes (dairy filled), rolls (glutenous), corn, and pecan pie (glutenous and eggy).  I roasted a pork loin, dh made mashed potatoes (dairy free), the Little Guy helped me make Mexican Bean Salsa Salad (free of gluten, birds and their byproducts, milk, soy, and canola and rapeseed oils), and GFCFEFSF pumpkin pie (for the flour, I used extra virgin olive oil instead of light olive oil – not sure what the difference is, sorghum flour instead of buckwheat flour , and Thai Kitchen’s full fatted coconut milk instead of hemp milk, which I had never heard of until this recipe).

 

The pork turned out okay, the mashed potatoes not so good, the MBSS turned out nice except that I forgot to buy cilantro , which was sorely missed, and the pumpkin pie was great!

 

If you followed the link, you probably saw that the pie was made without a crust.  It was easy to get out of the pie plate and tasted very good considering it is full of substitutes to make it pumpkin pie like.  It actually tasted like pumpkin, wasn’t sludgy, and didn’t look like something I probably didn’t want to eat.  I will add more spices to it next time – and there will be a next time – because it seemed like maybe it could’ve used a little something more, flavor wise, but not much.

 

I’ve recently made a discovery that makes me feel a little sad.  It seems that my husband is losing or has lost the ability to taste simple things.  :(   I’ve been doing a lot of cooking over the past couple of weeks, and have not been able to please him without really dumping in the salt and spices. The boys and I have have really liked a few of the things, but he doesn’t and asks if I have considered adding some salt or pepper or other spices.   WITW???  The Little Guy, Mr. Somewhat Picky, was raving over a bowl of steaming hot vegetable beef soup, while The Mister thought it tasted like veggies, beef and water, which I can assure you it was not, and yet how sad that he doesn’t seem to be able to taste the natural flavors of the vegetables!

 

My stomach has been really bothering me for the last few days, and I think it’s because I have added so much extra pepper and other spices so that he can taste something.  In the future, I will make a separate concoction for him so the rest of us don’t have to suffer from burnt innards.  In the meantime, I’ve got to search for answers about taste bud health.  8-|

 

Today, we had dinner with my sister’s family, but this time, we weren’t the only people dealing with food sensitivities.  My Mom has discovered that she is at least gluten intolerant, so we worked out the menu so that it would be as everybody friendly as possible.  Still, certain staples were required which some of us simply had to avoid.  There was turkey, pork, fresh veggies and dip, pickles, cranberry sauce, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes and gravy, rolls, fruit salad, MBSS, two kinds of pumpkin pie (one GFCFEFSF), one me-friendly blueberry pie, one pecan pie, and one spectacular fruit crisp dessert that I wung which turned out, well, spectacular!  I’ll have to make it again and write down what I did, but the two main flavors are pumpkin and apple, and it was delicious!

 

We did not lack for food, and I am thankful to God for providing so much variety in nature so that those of us with a lengthy “Stuff to Avoid” list can enjoy tasty food, too!  :)

I am also thankful to have had the opportunity to spend time with my family.  I haven’t seen my in-laws or my side of the family much at all lately, so it was nice to slow down and have some time with them.  You know, as much as God has shown himself faithful lately, I still worried about a couple of things and cast a shadow over some of the festivities.  I feel bad that I didn’t let the things go and spend more time concentrating on how I could be a blessing to them.  Both sides of our family are having their own difficulties. We had a good time both days, really, we did, but I could cry over one of the things I wish I could’ve done, but God knows about that situation, and thinking it over, I know that He would’ve impressed a thing upon my heart if He had wanted me to do something about it.  I guess I can take comfort in that.  I shall take comfort in that.

 

I don’t mean to end on a downer.  Difficult things happen, but God is still faithful, and I don’t mean to whine away every bit of thanks I’ve expressed. It has been a pleasant week, and I am thankful for it and all that it brought our way.  And I am especially thankful that I did not join in the shopping madness!  ;)

 

I Corinthians 15:56,57

The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.  But thanks be to God!  He gives us victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Posted in Baking, Conrad, Cooking, Dairy free, Dogs, Egg free, Family, Food allergies, Gluten free, Holidays, Thanksgiving, Wheat free | Tagged: , , | Leave a Comment »

A bittersweet reminder for the holiday season

Posted by Mrs. Nicklebee on November 20, 2009

Hat tip to Dot for sharing a link to the All Things Heart & Home blog.  There are a number of very cool craft ideas over there.

But crafts are not the inspiration for this post.  With Thanksgiving just around the corner in the U. S. of A., and all of the busy, craziness that we have brought to Christmas, I think it’s appropriate to share an admonition from Robin @ All Things Heart & Home:

Don’t miss them … sacred days.

Thanks, Robin, for the reminder of how life and its quirks are a gift.

Posted in Family, Holidays, Life and Living | Tagged: , , , | 1 Comment »

Stardate Tuesday

Posted by Mrs. Nicklebee on December 5, 2007

In case I never mentioned this, Dogs Rule.

Adelheid loves to have a stuffed animal. There isn’t an attitude around people or Noah with it so we let her carry around her favorite.

Last night I went shopping for some stuff I needed for the church Christmas thing tonight and saw that the dog toys were marked down. I picked up one that most resembled her old one. When I got home, I said, “Heidi! Come and get your dolly!” (I may have mentioned before that she reminded us of a little girl with a doll when she was a puppy, so we have always called her MFT (most favored toy) her “dolly”.) She came running and sniffed the thing for a minute and walked away. I called her back and offered it to her again and she took it and walked around the house with it. Since then, she has spent most of her spare time in her kennel with the thing.

The Church thing

We had a great time at our thing tonight. *Ella went with me, and my mother in-law brought 4 other people. That was cool. All of the tables were so pretty and each was unique. I have yet to see a table decorated the same way twice. One was actually mostly black! It was striking. Simple, yet interesting. (It was that hysterical older redhead, **Guinevere.) Our guests seemed pleased with the table so that was a relief. (I always worry about disappointing people when it comes to stuff like that.)

*The Asterisk still means what it always has, but I have to put something here so that I can get on with the double asterisk.

** Not your real name, either, but 10,000 blog points to the person, blogger or nonblogger, who knows where this came from, who said it and who she was saying it to: “I’m Guinevere _______. My friends call me Jenny. You can call me Guinevere.”

I was pleasantly surprised to hear my contribution to dessert being raved over. I made cupcakes using the Cocoa Crazy Cake recipe and the Vegan Buttercream Frosting. They did taste exceptional. I am not sure if it was because they were refrigerated, which I don’t usually do, or if it was the recipe change, or if they were that great.

If it had to do with the recipe change, this time I substituted the 1/2 C of shortening for Soy Garden. I was a little leery of doing that but I didn’t have a lot to lose because I had already started dumping ingredients into my mixing bowl. (Take it from me: THINK FIRST.)

Everyone at our table also really enjoyed the entertainment. Every song the singers sang pointed to Jesus. No one could walk away from there wondering what it was all about, or at least not knowing the Object of our celebration.

Speaking of Jesus

Something I read in my email today caused me to look through the Bible for answers. Flipping through, I read some verses today that were an encouragement to me. Maybe they’ll be an encouragement to someone else.

Hebrews 4:14-16

14 Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. 15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin. 16 Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.

Colossians 2:13-15

13 When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, 14 having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross. 15 And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.

Something I think about quite often lately is that satan doesn’t have to turn me into a baby eating devil worshiper to win; he just needs to get my eyes off Jesus.

Turn your eyes upon Jesus,
Look full in His wonderful face,
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim,
In the light of His glory and grace.

Posted in Dogs, Faith, Friends, Heidi the Dog, Holidays, Jesus | Tagged: , , | 1 Comment »

Christmas Gifts

Posted by Mrs. Nicklebee on December 28, 2006

We were very blessed this season. One of the things I got, a couple of months early, was a camera. A decent camera. I’m kinda excited to use it more. I’ve used it quite a bit but it’s mostly experimental so far.

These are a couple of little big dogs:  Wilbur, a 6 mo. old Weimariner (left), and Heidi, a 7 mo. old German Shepherd.

Heidi and Wilbur Playing

And here’s same, Sammy, a 6.5 years old Bichon Frise: a sissy dog with a big dog personality.

Sammy

 

Wilbur and Sammy belong to people in Mr. Nicklebee’s family.  Heidi is mine.  My own.  My precioussssss.

Posted in Daily life, Family, Friends, Holidays, Pets | 3 Comments »