Sanctified Sunday – September 2, 2018

According to a search on Google, “sanctified” means:

sanc·ti·fy
ˈsaNG(k)təˌfī/
verb
past tense: sanctified; past participle: sanctified

set apart as or declare holy; consecrate.
“a small shrine was built to sanctify the site”
synonyms: consecrate, bless, make holy, hallow, make sacred, dedicate to God
“he came to sanctify the site”
make legitimate or binding by religious sanction.
“they see their love sanctified by the sacrament of marriage”
synonyms: approve, sanction, condone, vindicate, endorse, support, back, permit, allow, authorize, legitimize
“we must not sanctify this outrage”
free from sin; purify.
synonyms: purify, cleanse, free from sin, absolve, unburden, redeem
“they sanctified themselves”

The definition of “sanctified” is to set apart as or declare holy. So that is what our family tries to do. Most Sundays we spend at least part of our day at church. However, on some Sundays, like today, we determined it is best for our family to stay home and spend the day as a family. Of course, today we also have company coming over to eat with us. Ever since our oldest son started taking the classes back in June to become a Certified Nursing Assistant at a residential care facility, one of the Certified Nursing Assistants became a good friend to our son. In fact, she drives him back and forth most days. So the other day, when she dropped our son off she came into the house. So my husband asked her when she was going to come to eat with us. Today just happened to work for our schedule and her schedule. So, my husband made a pot of his homemade beef stew and will be making homemade biscuits along with a pot of rice. I will be preparing a salad to go along with our meal. Then we are planning on making a cake for dessert. I always look forward to having company over to eat with us.

Tomorrow is Labor Day in the United States and we will have another friend coming over for dinner. So stay tuned for a post about that either tomorrow or the next day.

What is going on for your weekend? I would love to hear from you.  If you would like to read what other members of the Home School Review Crew are blogging about this week, click here or on the graphic below.

Thoughts for Tuesday

So this past weekend we had a four day weekend.  Friday, my husband spent putting up about 38 quarts of potatoes. Then Saturday morning, our oldest son, our youngest son, my husband and I had choir practice for our Easter cantata.  Then Sunday we attended church which included our Easter cantata.  Then we came home and had a friend over for Easter dinner. Here are some pictures of our dinner.

We ate collard greens with ham, Black-eyed peas with ham, macaroni salad, deviled eggs and a fruit salad.

For the fruit salad, I combined blueberries, apple pears from Costco, pears from our Bountiful Baskets order, apples, and oranges, kiwi fruit. I mixed the fruit with some sugar and pure vanilla extract. It was delicious.

So what have you been cooking? I would love to hear from you. If you would like to check out what other members of the Home School Review Crew are up to, click here or on the graphic below.

Tasty Tuesday’s – Homemade Ginger Sauces

 

Have you ever gone out to eat somewhere and developed a craving to have that certain food prepared exactly as that particular restaurant could make it.  Then you go other places and find yourself being disappointed over and over again.  We have such a food from such a restaurant.  When we lived in Jacksonville, North Carolina, we had one of the best Japanese Steak Houses.  We would go in every year for Valentine’s Day, typically with my husband’s brother, his wife, my husband’s best friend along with his wife and typically one other couple.

Dennis and I always ordered two separate meals – one of us would get the Hibachi Steak and the other would get the Hibachi Chicken and we would share.  My favorite part of the meal was the Ginger salad dressing and the ginger dipping sauce.  Since we left North Carolina, almost 9 years ago, we have not been able another restaraunt that is as good.

As a result, I have been on the hunt for a good recipe online to make the salad dressing and the dipping sauce.  This weekend, we made both using fresh ginger root.  The two recipes I tried (one was from Allrecipes) and the other I found on another site online.  They came out amazing.

 

We planned on fixing sushi, however, my husband is not a fan of the seaweed used.  So we thought about using cucumbers to wrap them.  However, we did not have a sushi mat to roll the sushi with, so we made a “sushi” bowl instead.  I used the basic ingredients of a California roll – including sushi rice, avocados, carrots, cumbers, imitation crab sticks, and cream cheese.  I was pleased with how they turned out.  We used the ginger salad dressing for this.  Also, we had egg rolls, Teriyaki chicken, Stir-fried cabbage and Zucchini stir-fried with onions.

So what have you been cooking at your house?  I would love to hear from you.

If you would like to read what other members of the Homeschool Review Crew are posting about this week, click here or on the link below.

 

Tasty Tuesday – Some Meals

Here is one of our meals from the past week. We had salmon, purchased from Sam’s Club, a blend of Broccoli, Cauliflower and Carrots, which we steamed, seasoned with salt and pepper and butter. The salmon was cooked in the broiler for roughly ten minutes on each side.

Then tonight we had the Pioneer Woman’s Spicy Pulled Pork.  I added some more brown sugar than the recipe called for to help counteract the effects of the Chipotle peppers in Adobo Sauce.

So what are you eating this week?  I would love to hear from you.

If you would like to read what other members of the Home School Review Crew are up to this week, click here or on the graphic below.

A Perfect Recipe

    

Have you ever tried a recipe and had it taste it exactly like you want it to taste?  This week, my mother gave me a belated Christmas present.  I received the Pioneer Woman’s plates, salad plates, bowls, tumblers and two coffee mugs.  The funny part about it is my meal plan for dinner that day included a Pioneer Woman recipe for Spicy Dr. Pepper Pork.  We were missing one ingredient -a can of chipotle peppers in adobo sauce.  But, I decided to make it without them.  Boy, was I glad I did since it still turned out amazing.  This recipe was so simple to make.  You basically cut up an onion and put it in the bottom of your dish you want to cook the meat in, then rub the pork with salt and pepper before laying it on top of the onions.  Then you would add the can of chipotle peppers in adobo sauce.  Finally, you pour in two cans of Dr. Pepper.  I used our eight-quart oval dutch oven to bake it in the 400-degree oven.  Then it just cooks for at least six hours.

When it was done, we took it out of the oven and with two forks, I was able to shred the pork with absolutely no problems at all.  The flavor was amazing.  The amount of meat was incredible.  We probably would be able to use it for at least three separate meals, which as a homeschooling family means a lot.  So if your family likes pork and Dr. Pepper (even if you have not tried them together), try this recipe, you will not regret it.

The next time I make it, I definitely plan on using the peppers, so I will update then on the difference in taste.

For now, happy cooking, meal planning, and eating.  What are you eating this week?  I would love to hear from you.

 

July 4, 2015

So yesterday was Independence Day.  We really did not do anything special.  We did however enjoy eating some meals together as a family.  Because it was rather rainy most of the day, I was really glad that we did not have any outdoor plans.  We cooked pork in our Ninja cooker along with broccoli and cauliflower, corn and mashed potatoes.  All in all it was a really great meal.

Since the sun was shining today, we grilled outside.  We fixed Shrimp-k-bobs, complete with shrimp, bacon, onions, tomatoes and some had red bell peppers.

We took shrimp and placed it into a Tupperware Season-Serve container.  I added Old Bay Seasoning, olive oil, lemon juice, pepper, salt and garlic pepper and shook the container so the shrimp was coated.

Then we took wooden skewers that had soaked in water (well actually I took skewers) and alternated the onions, bacon, tomatoes and shrimp to begin with (I was waiting for the bell peppers to thaw).

Once I was done with the preparations, my darling placed them on the grill.  In the meantime,  we were fixing Kale, and peas to go with our meal.

Then when everything was ready,  we had a meal to feast upon.

We truly had a wonderful meal.  I really enjoy cooking for and eating with my family.

So how did you spend your 4th of July?  I would love to hear from you.