Fun With Mushrooms

It's Potluck Saturday! And we're having fun with mushrooms!



Do you like mushrooms? I never liked them as a child, but they have really grown on me. These are my three favorite ways to eat mushrooms:

Blue Bacon Stuffed Mushrooms from AllRecipes make a delicious appetizer. I made these for a holiday dinner and they were a huge hit.

Looking for a special homemade Valentine's dinner for two? Try these steaks topped with scrumptious, winey, sliced mushrooms. Preacher Man was proposing to me all over again when I made this for him! (And I love steaks on the grill so much that I never intended to cook them any other way. An unbeatable sale + frigid temperatures made me try this recipe and it is indeed a winner! Perfect for those of us in the northern climes on V-day.) BTW - I used red onion instead of a shallot.

Lastly, this recipe for Greens with Mushrooms has been a favorite of ours for a long time.

Serves 2-3
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 2 tbs. oil
- generous 1/2 c. shiitake mushrooms, stemmed & sliced
(I have never used shiitake, I just use the cheap, white button mushrooms.)
- 1 lb. baby bok choy (a kind of cabbage - may substitute regular bok choy)
- 3 tbs soy sauce
- 1 tsp. sesame oil (yes, invest in the little bottle - it adds warmth & depth of flavor like you wouldn't believe! I also use sesame oil in my Egg Foo Young)

Separate the stalks from the leaves of the baby bok choy. Roughly chop both, keeping them separated. In a saucepan, fry the garlic in the oil until it is warm. Add the sliced mushrooms & bok choy stalks, stirring together for about a minute or so. Cover the pan & cook for about 5 min. Remove lid & add bok choy leaves, soy sauce, & sesame oil. Let it cook for another 2-3 minutes, or until the leaves have wilted. This is especially delicious with salmon.
(Slightly tweaked version of Nigella Lawson's recipe found in Nigella Bites.)

Any of these would be wonderful for a special Valentine's dinner with your sweetie. Of course, you don't have to get too fancy to make it memorable. One year, I made heart-shaped pizzas and Preacher Man loved it! I do best saying "I love you" with food. :)

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"Marching to Zion"

Come, we that love the Lord,
And let our joys be known;
Join in a song with sweet accord,
Join in a song with sweet accord
And thus surround the throne,
And thus surround the throne.

Let those refuse to sing,
Who never knew our God;
But children of the heavenly King,
But children of the heavenly King
May speak their joys abroad,
May speak their joys abroad.

The hill of Zion yields
A thousand sacred sweets
Before we reach the heav’nly fields,
Before we reach the heav’nly fields,
Or walk the golden streets,
Or walk the golden streets.

Then let our songs abound,
And every tear be dry;
We’re marching through Immanuel’s ground,
We’re marching through Immanuel’s ground,
To fairer worlds on high,
To fairer worlds on high.

Refrain:

We’re marching to Zion,
Beautiful, beautiful Zion;
We’re marching upward to Zion,
The beautiful city of God.

by Isaac Watts

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Curiosity

I think, at a child's birth, if a mother could ask a fairy godmother
to endow it with the most useful gift, that gift should be curiosity.

~Eleanor Roosevelt

Big Littles has an intense personality and burning curiosity is the driving force for him. Apparently, the fairy godmother accidentally dropped the entire carton of curiosity sprinkles upon our firstborn child when she visited. I keep telling myself that one day this will be a positive thing if we can channel it for good. Still, when I am at my wits end dealing with this tumultuous force of curiosity in a preschooler, I am reminded of the wise words of a dear friend:

"Eleanor Roosevelt had nannies."

~The Deputy Headmistress

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"Consider Your Ways!"

Haggai 1:5-7

Now therefore, thus says the Lord of hosts: "Consider your ways!
You have sown much, and bring little;
You eat, but do not have enough;
You drink, but you are not filled with drink;
You clothe yourselves, but no one is warm;
And he who earns wages, earns wages to put into a bag with holes."

Thus says the Lord of hosts: "Consider your ways!"

The prophet Haggai was commanded by the Lord to bring a message to God's people that were recently returned from captivity. The people were happy to be back home and were busy beautifying their houses, but were not taking time to repair the temple which was still lying in ruin. Basically, they were so caught up in the busy tasks of life and making their living that they were neglecting the most important things: God's things!

I think this is just as much a temptation for women today. We become so busy making our homes and taking care of all of the busy tasks of life that we neglect our spiritual temple, which is our relationship with the Lord.

"Consider your ways!"

Have you felt like you are just spinning your wheels? Do you feel spiritually cold and empty? Does this verse ring true: "You looked for much, but indeed it came to little..." (vs. 9)

Perhaps you need to invest more time in building God's temple, strengthening your soul in His Word.

"And be strong... and work; for I am with you, says the Lord of hosts" (2:4) "And in this place I will give peace" (2:9).

Take a moment today to pause and reflect. "Consider your ways!"

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'Tis So Sweet...

’Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus,
And to take Him at His Word;
Just to rest upon His promise,
And to know, “Thus says the Lord!”

O how sweet to trust in Jesus,
Just to trust His cleansing blood;
And in simple faith to plunge me
’Neath the healing, cleansing flood!

Yes, ’tis sweet to trust in Jesus,
Just from sin and self to cease;
Just from Jesus simply taking
Life and rest, and joy and peace.

I’m so glad I learned to trust Thee,
Precious Jesus, Savior, Friend;
And I know that Thou art with me,
Wilt be with me to the end.

Refrain:
Jesus, Jesus, how I trust Him!
How I’ve proved Him o’er and o’er
Jesus, Jesus, precious Jesus!
O for grace to trust Him more!

by Louisa Stead

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Scalloped Potatoes

Yummy and frugal, this is another family favorite! It's a great way to use up leftover bits of ham. This takes a lot of time in the oven, so plan accordingly. This is my own variation on the version in my Betty Crocker cookbook.



Scalloped Potatoes
3 pounds of potatoes (about 9 medium)
3 tbs. butter
3 cloves minced garlic
1 medium onion, finely chopped
3 tbs. flour
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
2 1/2 c. milk (I actually use rice milk)
Cubed or sliced ham (opt.)
2 c. grated cheese

Cook the potatoes by either boiling them or baking them. I usually bake potatoes in large batches. I fill a 13x9 pan with potatoes scrubbed clean with holes poked in them all over. Drizzle them with olive oil, sprinkle with some salt, and bake at about 300* until they are done. This usually takes about an hour and a half. Wait until they are nice and cool and slice them up rather thin, putting the slices right back into the 13x9 pan they came from. I cover the pan with plastic wrap and refrigerate until I'm ready to make scalloped potatoes for dinner. If I have extra potatoes we usually eat them for lunch or I make home fries or hash browns with them.

Get a large-ish saucepan and saute the onions and garlic in some butter or olive oil. Sprinkle the onions and garlic on top of the potatoes. Add your cubed ham sprinkling it on top also.

White sauce: Using the same saucepan, melt the butter over low heat. Whisk in the flour, whisking constantly until it bubbles. Stir in the milk and heat to boiling, stirring constantly. Boil and stir about 1 min. Pour the white sauce evenly on top of the potatoes, cover with foil, and bake in a 350* oven for about 45 minutes. Uncover, add the cheese and bake another 30 minutes or so. Enjoy!

Serves 6-8 as a main dish - you can leave the ham out and it can be more of a side.


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Nursing, As Seen in the Bible

I have never even heard a Ladies' Class where we discussed what the Bible says about nursing babies, which is why I appreciate this article so much. The Bible has many scriptures that can be so encouraging to mothers, so I hope this article will encourage you.

We see in Titus 2 that older women are to teach younger women how to love their children. One way to love our children is to nurse them as seen in 1 Thessalonians 2:7 - "But we proved to be gentle among you, as a nursing mother tenderly cares for her children." In Isaiah 28:9-10 we are to teach knowledge to "those who are just taken from the breast", "order on order", "line upon line", and "a little here, a little there" and are commanded in Proverbs 22:6 to "Train up a child in the way he should go; and when he is old, he will not depart from it." 



In addition to nourishing our children emotionally, and with God's word, we are to nourish them physically. God designed our bodies in an amazing way. Psalm 139:14 - "I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Wonderful are Your works, And my soul knows it very well." God gave women breasts. It is a part of his design. He gave them to us to entice and satisfy our husbands as we see in the Song of Solomon. He also gave them to us to nourish and comfort our babies. Isaiah 66:11-13, “that you may nurse and be satisfied from her consoling breast; that you may drink deeply with delight from her glorious abundance…” “and you shall nurse, you shall be carried upon her hip, and bounced upon her knees. As one whom his mother comforts, so I will comfort you; you shall be comforted in Jerusalem.” I find this verse incredibly beautiful. The warmth of a mother's arms and body, being cradled in her arms, her soothing smell and voice, and the warmth of milk all give the comfort that babies need. 



Nursing a baby is a beautiful thing, and we can thank God for the gift of the ability to do so. God causes infants to long for milk (1 Peter 2:2), but God has also designed a benefit for women. Nursing produces a cocktail of hormones that is released during breastfeeding that causes women to fall in love with their babies. This is not necessarily seen in the Bible, but has been studied scientifically in addition to the observation of women since creation and it is one of the "Blessings of the breast" (Genesis 49:25). One of the most compelling things that happens during breastfeeding is seen in Psalm 22:9 - "Yet You are He who brought me forth from the womb; You made me trust when upon my mother's breasts." The bond and the trust that results is so strong, that it is not easily broken. Isaiah 49:15 - "Can a woman forget her nursing child and have no compassion on the son of her womb? Even these may forget, but I will not forget you." 



Some nursing mothers in the Bible - Sarah nursed in her old age (Genesis 21:7-8) , Hannah (1 Samuel 1:23-24), Moses' mother Jochebed (Exodus 2:9), Mary the mother of Jesus (Luke 11:27)



The last verse that I found was a rather sad and unpleasant one, but it is in the Bible nonetheless, so I will share it. Lamentations 4:3-4 - "Even jackels offer the breast, they nurse their young; But the daughter of my people has become cruel like ostriches in the wilderness. The tongue of the infant cleaves to the roof of its mouth because of its thirst; the little ones ask for bread, but no one breaks it for them..." From this verse we can learn that infants nurse not only for food, but also for thirst, and that it is "cruel" (this is God's term here) to deny a hungry/thirsty child.

Breast milk is a living substance that varies in composition at every feeding (another part of God's marvelous design), but is generally about 90% water. Infants need milk for more than just food. From these scriptures, we can see that breast milk provides for their comfort, their thirst, their emotional needs (trust), and that it is God's gift.


~ By Heather Bunting


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